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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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http://www.archive.org/details/creedmodernthougOOfranrich 


THE    CREED 


AND 


MODERN  THOUGHT. 


BY  THE 

Rev.  B.  franklin,  D.D., 

/I 

BECTOB    OP    CHBIST    OHTTBCH,    SHBEW8BUBY,    NEW    JEBSET. 


NEW  YORK: 
E.  &  J.  B.  YOUNG  &  CO., 

COOFEB    UNION,    FOURTH    AVENUE. 
1881. 


F7 


COPYKIGHT, 

B.  &  J.  B.  YOUNG  &  CO., 
1881. 


:is^s'y 


Trow's 

Printing  and  Bookbinding  Company, 

201-213  East  \-ztJi  Streets 

NEW  YORK. 


PREFACE. 


MoDEEX  thought  is  pervaded  by  lofty  conceptions  of 
ideal  humanity.  Individual,  concrete  specimens,  or  per- 
sons of  men  are  not  much  regarded.  The  race  however 
is  acknowledged  to  be  the  highest  known  existence.  Its 
progress,  development,  or  evolution  is  believed  to  be  ever 
onward,  outward  and  upward ;  not  perhaps  toward  a 
fixed  perfection,  but  rather  along  an  endless  pathway  iu 
the  direction  of  the  infinitely  perfect. 

This  pervading  instinct  of  Modern  Thought  does  only 
just  honor  to  human  consciousness.  It  is  also  in  ac- 
cord with  mankind's  position  in  the  visible  universe. 
History  assents  to  it,  discriminating  reflection  confinns 
it,  and  the  dignity  of  manhood  requires  it. 

Whatever  degrades,  or  cramps  manhood ;  and  what- 
ever also  assigns  to  man  a  sphere  too  narrow  for  the 
utmost  outaction  of  all  his  single  and  combined  facul- 
ties, has  no  status  before  Modem  Thought ;  and  should 
have  none. 


IV  PREFACE. 

The  Creed,  i.  e.  The  Apostles'  Creed,  and  its  enlarged 
form,  commonly  called  The  Nicene  Creed,  has  adjuncts 
and  a  history,  whose  weight  and  value  may  fairly  be 
claimed  for  Christianity.  It  has  stood  through  centu- 
ries, wherein  systems  of  science  and  of  philosophy  have 
chased  one  another  across  the  stage,  even  more  rapidly 
than  tribes  have  supplanted  tribes,  and  nations  risen 
and  fallen  ;  and  it  yet  remains  The  Symbol  of  Christian 
Faith,  being  accepted  as  a  basis  even  when  mutilated  or 
overlaid  with  new  articles  of  religion. 

If,  however.  Modern  Thought  can  do  more  to-day  for 
man  than  The  Creed  can  do,  it  has  the  right  to  set  the 
Creed  aside  as  superannuated  and  effete. 

The  Creed,  in  order  to  sustain  its  enormous  claim  to 
the  belief  of  all  mankind,  must  show  itself  to  every  age, 
as  the  very  charter  of  true  liberty,  and  the  sure  guide 
for  progressive  humanity.  It  must  take  man  in  his 
completeness,  and  leave  him  whole,  as  he  forges  himself 
into  a  present  link  for  binding  together  his  own  past 
and  future,  as  well  as — according  to  his  measure — those 
of  his  race.  Humanity  at  large  as  well  as  every  human 
person,  who  is  true  to  his  own  noblest,  conscious  ideal, 
may  demand  from  The  Creed  all  needful  assurance  re- 
specting the  origin  and  continuity  of  the  past,  whole 
accord  with  the  present,  and  guidance  upon  reasonable 


PREFACE.  y 

grounds,  towards  worthy  hope  or  just  fear  for  the 
future. 

This  essay  attempts  mainly  to  view  The  Creed,  as  one 
might  were  it  just  promulgated.  Modern  Thought  is 
considered  rather  as  to  the  normal  and  germinal  ideas 
of  its  several  schools,  than  as  to  their  details  of  argu- 
ment and  conclusion.  The  aim  is  to  set  forth  The  Creed, 
positively  and  directly,  as  the  adequate  answer  and  fuU 
response,  to  manhood's  conscious  constitution,  capacity, 
cravings,  and  needs. 

One  characteristic  of  modern  philosophical  writings — 
whether  metaphysical  or  scientific — will  not  be  found  in 
this  work.  Neither  notes  will  abound,  nor  wiU  an  array 
of  names  and  quotations  appear  in  the  text.  They  serve 
certain  purposes,  with  perhaps  a  numerous  class  of 
readers,  producing  in  them  an  estimate  first  of  the 
author,  and  then  often  of  his  views,  entirely  dispropor- 
tionate to  the  cause. 

Because  every  school  of  thought  has  its  germinal  idea, 
out  of  which  grows  the  works  of  its  head  teacher  and 
scholars ;  and  because  this  germinal  idea  can  be  traced 
even  to  its  final  dilution  in  popular  thought ;  therefore, 
after  that  has  been  set  forth,  nothing  further  is  required 
in  discussing  its  relations  to  Christianity.  "Wlienever 
this  germinal  idea  has,  to  the  author's  knowledge,  been 


VI  PREFACE. 

expressed  in  terms  by  any  writer,  it  is  quoted  and 
credited.  Whenever  that  of  a  school  is  referred  to,  the 
name  of  the  school  is  given.  An  effort,  however,  has 
been  made  to  deal  fairly  with  every  system  that  enters 
into  the  composition  of  Modern  Thought,  not  omitting 
any  essential  point,  and  showing  just  what  is  true  in  it 
and  just  what  Christianity  supphes  that  it  wants,  or  cor- 
rects that  it  states  erroneously. 

This  plan  will,  the  author  hopes,  prove  satisfactory  to 
those  of  the  learned  who  estimate  propositions  and  views 
intrinsically,  rather  than  relatively  ;  while  it  will  avoid 
that  obscurity  which  unknown  or  uncurrent  names  pro- 
duce in  many  readers'  minds,  as  well  as  the  distraction, 
from  attention  to  the  line  of  thought  or  argument,  which 
quotations  of  even  confirmatory  repetitions  cause. 


CONTENTS. 


IPAOB 

Pbet  ACE iii-vi 

Man,  iii ;  the  historic  Creed,  iv ;  the  Creed  and  man,  iv ; 
germinal  ideas,  v. 

*'I,"  "We" 1-49 

The  Ego,  1 ;  I,  in  relation  to  Science,  1 ;  Science  and  Theol- 
ogy, 2;  Metaphysics  and  Theology,  4;  Positivism,  as  a 
philosophy,  5  ;  Positivism,  as  a  religion,  7 ;  Self-love  and 
selfishness,  7;  Sacrifice,  8;  Positivism  and  the  Ego,  8; 
Hegelian  Positivists,  8;  the  "I"  of  the  Creed  and  the 
*'Ego"  of  Science,  9;  I,  in  beginning,  progress  and  ful- 
ness, 10 ;  Individuality  and  Personality,  12 ;  the  potent 
and  indestructible  I,  in,  but  distinguishable  from,  body, 
soul,  and  spirit,  13 ;  the  I,  and  Metaphysical  Philosophy, 
15 ;  Biology,  15 ;  the  I,  precedent  of  Science's  first  fact, 
and  of  Metaphysics'  first  idea,  16;  the  significance  of 
anticipations,  in  the  Theistic  argxunent,  18 ;  the  doctrine 
of  Cause,  18  ;  Synthetical  Biology,  19  ;  attempts  to  define 
Life,  20;  Idealism,  23,  24  ;  I,  in  the  first  human  conscious- 
nesses ;  I,  in  the  Creed,  24  ;  We,  25  ;  Organic  humanity, 
25  ;  Faith  in  man,  26  ;  the  Creed  in  the  vanguard  of  Prog- 
ress, 27 ;  human  personality  and  organic  unity,  in  view 
of  the  Absolute  Truth,  28  ;  personality,  persistent  and 
everlasting,  28;  the  common  human  likeness,  33;  Civiliza- 
tion, 34;  the  human  constitution,  threefold,  35;  Body,  35 
Soul,  36  ;  Matter  and  Mind,  36  ;  WUl,  38 ;  the  Brain,  39 
the  Soul-substance,  41 ;  "  the  Soul  of  the  Universe,"  42 
what  is  man's  superiority?  42;  Spirit,  44;  the  unity  of 
Truth,  46;  "Abstract  Truth,"  48;  Truth  personal,  48. 

*'  I,  We  believe  " 50-69 

The  Infinitesimal  not  discoverable,  50  ;  Cause  and  the  First 
Cause,  50  ;  Belief  and  the  Will,  52  ;  no  finite  beginning  to 
Cause,  52  ;  Cause,  and  The  First  Cause,  in  Psychical  Phi- 
losophy, 53  ;  Belief,  the  basis  of  knowledge  and  ground  of 
thought,  54;  "We,"  assumed  in  all  philosophy,  55;  the 
Creed,  therefore,  at  least  philosophical,  50  ;  Belief  univer- 
sal, spontaneous,  and  personal,  57 ;  Belief  requires  an  ob- 


VIU  CONTENTS. 


iect,  58  ;  Idealism,  59 ;  Identicism,  60-62 ;  why  "  I,"  "  We  " 
begin  the  Creed,  63 ;  the  Concept  of  The  Truth,  63  ;  Truth 
and  Error,  Right  and  Wrong,  65 ;  belief  in  the  unity  of 
truth  universal,  and  unavoidable  in  both  philosophy  and 
religion,  67  ;  complex  belief,  68 ;  the  Creed's  comprehen- 
siveness, 69. 

"I,  We  believe  in  One  God  " 70-76 

The  Primary  Idea,  70;  "The  Unknown,"  70;  limit  of  in- 
quiry, 71 ;  man  on  the  outer  limit,  71 ;  One  God,  72 ; 
unity  of  human  intuition,  in  the  Creed  and  in  all  philoso- 
phy, 74  ;  the  primary  idea  of  God,  universal,  75 ;  from  the 
*'  I "  of  man  to  the  personality  of  God,  75. 

The  Father 77-91 

Force,  77:  Will,  77;  Cause  and  Will,  78;  the  "Image  of 
God,"  79  ;  Intellect,  79  ;  Heart,  79  ;  Body,  80  ;  Form  and 
substance,  81  ;  Spirits,  82;  the  Divine  substance,  82;  cog- 
nition of  God,  83  ;  Body,  Soul,  and  Spirit,  84;  Man's  call 
and  God's  answer,  84 ;  the  satisfactory  Name,  85 ;  the  ' 
Divine  Fatherhood  and  Conscious  Manhood,  89 ;  Dogma- 
tism, 90. 

* '  Almighty  " 92-97 

Omnipotence,  92 ;  Omniscience,  92  ;  Infinite,  93  ;  Man  lim- 
ited, but  humbly  bold,  93  ;  the  Pantocrat— not  abstract, 
but  a  person —  94 ;  Man,  in  view  of  a  supreme  abstraction, 
95 ;  the  Krator,  96 ;  Regal  Man,  and  the  Pantocrat,  96. 

Maker  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  and  op  all  things  visible 
AND  invisible 98-123 

Creation,  98  ;  Cosmical  conceptions  and  the  Positivists,  99  ; 
New  old  philosophies,  100 ;  Idealists  and  Realists,  101 ; 
Materialists,  102;  Nihilists,  103;  Identicists,  103;  He- 
gel's philosophy  of  "  The  Becoming,"  105  ;  the  crux  of  all 
philosophy,  106  ;  the  involute  circle  of  philosophic  thought, 
106  ;  GoD-manifest,  107  ;  summary,  109  ;  theories  of  Cre- 
ation, 110;  the  Universe  as  a  fact.  111 ;  disorder  in  the 
Universe,  112;  the  origin  of  evil,  114;  the  origin  of  evil 
in  man,  114  ;  the  origin  of  evil  in  nature,  115  ;  the  investi- 
gation of  evil,  118  ;  natural  religion,  122. 

"  And  in  Jesus  ;  "  "  And  in  One  Lord  Jesus  " 124-139 

Looking  after  God,  124  ;  "  I  "  and  the  Universe,  124 ;  GOD 
far  oflF,  125 ;  God  nigh,  126 ;  Salvation,  127 ;  relationship 
of  man  to  GoD,  128 ;  the  human  vpill,  128 ;  Conscience, 
129  ;  Utilitarianism,  130  ;  the  Moral  Sense  universal  and 
spontaneous,  131 ;  personal  freedom  in  view  of  right  and 
wrong,  132  ;  Sin,  132  ;  the  Saviour,  135  ;  one  Lord,  Sav- 
iour, 136  ;  the  good  of  salvation,  138  ;  the  glory  of  salva- 
tion, 138  ;  Jesus,  the  Incomparable,  139, 


CONTENTS.  IX 

PAOS 

Christ 140-147 

Who  is  He  ?  140  ;  His  credentials,  141 ;  our  need  of  Hira, 
142  ;  Evidence  of  His  mission,  and  Commission,  143  ;  Di- 
vine love,  143  ;  the  Bible  in  the  Church,  144 ;  the  Bible 
and  human  needs,  145 ;  the  ever-living  Christ,  146. 

"  His  Only  Son."    "  The  Only  Begotten  Son  of  God  " 148-155 

The  Divine  Paternity,  eternal,  148  ;  nature  of  its  proof,  149  ; 
first  germinal,  then  developing,  149  ;  present  proof,  151 ; 
Christ's  self-assertion  real,  tho'  incidental,  151 ;  His  un- 
rivalled perfectness,  153  ;  mode  of  belief  in  Him,  153 ; 
high  humanitarianism,  155. 

**  Begotten  of  His   Father    before  all  worlds,  God  of 
God,  Light  of  Light,  Very  God  of  Very  God" 156-160 

Mystery,  156 ;  begotten  and  ever-begetting,  eternally,  157 ; 
its  proof,  158 ;  the  essential  Divine  Sonship,  159 ;  Light, 
160 ;  Very  God,  160. 

Begotten,  not  made,    being  of  one  substance  with   the 
Father 161-171 

History  of  this  clause,  and  present  importance  of  the  fact, 
161 ;  Consubstantiality,  163  ;  Begotten,  165  ;  Proof,  167  ; 
proof  from  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  168 ;  summary,  169 ; 
GoD-manifest,  incomparable,  171. 

*'  By  Whom  all  things  were  made  " 172-176 

The  Grea,t  Artificer.  172  ;  the  Personal  Word,  173 ;  the  Per- 
sonal Wisdom  of  God,  173  ;  summary,  174. 

*'  Who,  for  us  men  and  for  our  salvation,  came  down  from 
Heaven  " 177-1 80 

The  condescension  of  Christ,  177 ;  this  condescension  self- 
chosen,  and  profoundly  effective,  179. 

"And  was  Incarnate" 181-197 

The  veritable  union  of  the  Divine  nature  with  the  human, 
181;  The  Incarnation  unique,  and  incomparable,  182; 
reaching  out  to  all  humanity,  182  ;  Christ,  in  person  still 
Divine,  183;  creation  and  servitude,  184;  the  image  of 
God,  186  ;  its  test,  186  ;  the  first  temptation,  186 ;  sin  and 
death,  187;  education,  188;  the  finite,  and  the  Infinite, 
189;  "the  last  Adam,"  189;  free  communion  with  God, 
190  ;  the  new  root  of  all  humanity,  190  ;  man's  unrivalled 
exaltation,  192;  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  192;  the 
nature  of  the  sin  of  Adam,  194 :  its  transmission,  195 ; 
personal  liberty,  196 ;  restoration,  196  :  final  perseverance, 
197. 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

*' Who  was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  "Incarnate  by 
THE  Holy  Ghost  of  the  Virgin  Mary  " 198-202 

Personality  of  Jesus,  19S  ;  the  Immaculate  Conception,  198  ; 
evidence,  199 ;  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation,  200. 

"  Born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,"  "And  was  made  man  " 203-220 

Man,  but  not  a  human  person,  203  ;  union  and  communion 
with  God,  204 ;  Christ's  perfect  manhood,  205  ;  •'  the 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free,"  206 ;  the 
everlasting  God-man,  207  ;  universal  humanity,  207  ;  the 
first  Adam  universal,  208 ;  the  last  Adam  universal,  209 ; 
eflfect  of  the  last-Adamhood,  210 ;  'this  effect  in  view  of 
human  freedom,  210 ;  the  Divine-human  personality  of 
Jesus,  212;  his  humanity,  bom  of  a  woman,  214;  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  215  ;  one  Mediator,  21G  ;  the  feminine  ele- 
ment in  humanity,  in  view  of  mediation,  219. 

*' Suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate,  was  crucified."  "And 
WAS  crucified  also  for  us  under  Pontius  Pilate  " 221-226 

Original  Sin,  221 ;  renewal  and  conversion,  221 ;  the  Re- 
newer,  222  ;  the  historic  death  of  Jesus,  225. 

"  Dead  and  buried. "  "He  suffered  and  was  buried " 227-239 

His  death  real  and  personal,  227 ;  the  Propitiation,  229 ; 
Scriptural  evidence  and  testimony,  229  ;  Faith,  280 ;  Sacri- 
fice, threefold,  231 ;  its  bearing  on  manliness,  231 ;  the 
death  in  sin,  238  ;  the  adaptation  of  the  Atonement  to 
manly  men,  234;  "The  Tree  of  Life,"  234;  Jesus,  and 
natural  death,  285 ;  His  death  compensatory  for  Adam's 
sin,  285 ;  the  Ransom,  236  ;  .summary,  288. 

"  He  descended  into  Hell  " 240-255 

His  human  spirit,  240  ;  Soul,  241;  Body,  242  ;  Soul- sub  stance, 
243 ;  Man's  body  and  soul,  244 ;  Man's  spirit,  244 ;  Con- 
science, 244  ;  Love,  245  ;  tripartite  man,  240  ;  dissolution, 
246 ;  Man's  unique  superiority  in  the  world,  247 ;  origin 
and  characteristics  of  the  spirit-soul,  249 ;  personal  im- 
mortality, 250 ;  person,  separable  from  body,  252 ;  soul 
and  spirit  inseparable,  252 ;  the  spirit-soul  of  Jesus  in 
Paradise,  253  ;  Scriptural  proof,  254  ;  Jesus,  man  both  es- 
sentially and  conditionally,  255  ;  the  period  of  Hades,  255. 

"The  third  day  He  rose  from  the  dead."  "And  the 
third  day  He  rose  again,  according  to  the  Scrip- 
tures " 256-265 

•yhe  historic  fact  of  the  Resurrection,  256  ;  its  inherent  pos- 
sibility, 256  ;  the  doctrine,  in  the  Old  Testament,  257  ;  the 
doctrine,  in  the  New  Testament,  2.58 ;  historic  confirma- 
tion, 260 ;  the  centrality  of  the  fact  of  the  Resurrection, 
261 ;  its  scientific  possibility,  262 ;  the  Resurrection  of  the 
last  Adam,  263. 


CONTENTS.  XI 

PAGE 

**He  ascended  into   Heaven,   and  sitteth  on  the   right 
HAND  OF  God,  the  Father  ALMiGHTr  " 266-274 

The  completed  earth-work  of  Jesus,  266  ;  His  Ascension  as 
a  fact,  267 ;  His  Lordship,  and  the  associate  lordship  of 
mankind,  267  ;  Heaven,  268 ;  philosophical  objections,  268 ; 
Where  is  Heaven  ?  270  ;  the  universal  presence  of  the  God- 
man,  271 ;  His  efficient  presence,  271 ;  Man's  reception  of 
this  presence,  272 ;  summary,  273. 

*'  From  thence  He  shall,  come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the 
dead."     "  And  He  shall,  come  again  with  glory  to  judge 

BOTH    the    quick    AND    THE     DEAD,     WHOSE    KINGDOM    SHALL 
HAVE  NO  END " 275-284 

Final  judgment,  in  view  of  man's  dignity  and  godlikeness, 
275  ;  origin  of  evil,  277  ;  probation  and  freedom,  277  ;  evi- 
dences of  the  judgment,  278 ;  judgment,  personal,  279 ; 
the  judge,  279;  the  everlasting,  human  king  Jesus.  281; 
summary,  282  ;  unique  splendor  of  man's  destiny,  284. 

*'I  BELIEVE  IN  THE  HOLY  GhOST."   "  AnD  I  BELIEVE  IN  THE 

Holy  Ghost,  the  Lord,  and  Giver  of  Life  " 285-305 

Substance  and  person,  285 ;  the  primary  knowledge  of  God, 
287 ;  relations  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  Creed,  288  ;  the 
consummating  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  288 ;  science  and 
force,  or  energy,  288 ;  human  concept  of  the  Divine  pro- 
cession, 290  ;  evidence,  291 ;  the  Lord  and  Giver  of  Life,  a 
person,  acting  in  the  Creation,  291 ;  the  same  in  the  Incar- 
nation, 293 ;  communion  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  personal 
though  Ghostly,  294 ;  the  personal  Life  Giver,  in  Baptism, 
295 ;  the  Trinity,  296 ;  the  Deity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  297 ; 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  efficient  cause  of  life  and  grace,  and 
the  Inspirer  of  truth,  297 ;  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  ordina- 
tion of  the  Apostles.  299;  His  three-fold  manifestation, 
299 ;  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  300 ;  Man's  need  of  the  per- 
sonal Holy  Spirit,  301 ;  Man's  need  of  the  Trinity,  302. 

"  Who  Proceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  " 306-314 

The  mode  of  the  existence  of  the  Spirit.  306 ;  Procession, 
306  ;  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  307  ;  the  Procession,  eternal 
and  infinite,  308 ;  form  and  spirit,  309  ;  personality  through 
the  Procession,  310 ;  Filioque,  310 ;  the  essential  and  prac- 
tical agreement  between  the  East  and  the  West,  31 0  ;  mis- 
sion of  the  Holy  Ghost,  312 ;  His  help  to  manliness,  313. 

"  Who  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  together  is  wor- 
shipped AND  glorified  " 315-320 

Worship,  315;  distinctive  worship,  317;  glorification,  318; 
man's  need  of  this  worship  and  glorification,  319. 


Xll  CONTENTS. 


PAOB 

'*  Who  spake  by  the  Prophets" , 321-331 

Why  do  not  science  and  philosophy  prophesy  ?  331 ;  Chris- 
tian prophecy,  333 ;  the  Historic  Inspirer,  333 ;  confirma- 
tions of  prophecy,  334 ;  the  Ever-Living  Inspirer,  335 ; 
communion  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  337 ;  sin's  void,  327 ; 
the  Future,  338 ;  summary,  330. 

"The  Holy  Catholic  Church  the  Communion  op  Saints." 
"And  I  believe  one  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church ".333-357 

The  organic  form  of  Christianity,  333 ;  its  design  towards 
man,  before  angels,  and  for  God,  334  ;  a  church  invisible ! 
335 ;  Church  and  Ecclesia,  336  ;  the  Unity  of  the  Church, 
337;  Catholic,  340;  Apostolic,  343;  evil  in  the  Church, 
345;  Holy;  and  the  Communion  of  the  Saints,  347;  the 
Threefold  Ministry,  349 ;  Apostolic  Succession,  350 ;  Evan- 
gelists, 353 ;  Ministerial  Authority,  353  :  where  now  is  the 
Church  ?  355. 

"The  forgiveness  of  Sins."  "I  acknowledge  one  Baptism 
FOR  THE  remission  OP  SINS  " 358-374 

Evil,  358;  Faith,  a  natural  faculty,  350;  Sin,  361 ;  Sin  per- 
sonal and  transmitted,  363 ;  Sin  inherited,  no  man  respon- 
sible for,  365 ;  Sin,  as  set  forth  in  Revelation,  366  ;  Sin,  and 
grace,  both  inherited,  366  ;  Birth-sin,  and  the  New  Birth, 
867 ;  Baptism,  formal  and  spiritual,  outward  and  inward, 
368  ;  Sin  actual,  370 ;  Forgiveness,  371 ;  Forgiveness  formal 
and  sacramental,  373  ;  summary,  374. 

"The  Resurrection  op  the  Body."  "And  I  look  for  the 
Resurrection  of  the  dead  " 375-393 

Immortality,  375 ;  Man  and  animals,  376 ;  Man's  spirit,  377  ; 
spiritual  consciousness,  ultimate,  379  ;  the  life  principle  in 
brutes,  380  ;  the  body,  and  self  or  person,  383  ;  the  germ  of 
body,  383  ;  Cycles,  and  new  forms  of  life,  384  ;  St.  Paul's 
argument  for  the  Resurrection,  386  ;  evidence  from  Reve- 
lation, 387 ;  personal  Identity,  387 ;  the  resurrection  of 
"the  last  Adam,"  and  that  of  all  mankind,  390  ;  liberty  to 
the  last,  391 ;  the  living  and  the  dead  waiting,  392. 

"  And  the  Life  everlasting."  "  And  the  Life  of  the  World 
TO  COME  " 394-399 

The  song  of  thanksgiving,  394 ;  self-evolute,  and  personal 
life,  394;  the  life  everlasting,  personal  union  and  com- 
munion with  God,  396 ;  the  two  sides  of  the  perfect  eternal 
life,  397 ;  eternal  life  is  eternal  love,  398. 

"  Amen  " 400-404 

The  seal  and  the  witness,  400  ;  the  oath,  Amen,  verily,  400  ; 
Jehovah,  401;  the  solemn  significance  of  the  *'Amen," 
403 ;  Holy  daring,  403  ;  final  summary,  404. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 


"3."   "Ilk." 

English  and  other  European  Christians  use,  in  the 
vernacular,  the  personal  pronoun  "I,"  with  which  to  be- 
gin The  Creed,  Modern  languages  only  bring  forth  this 
pronoun,  into  common  and  formal  use,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  One,  only  ancient.  Symbol  of  The  Christian  Faith. 
The  significance  of  this  fact,  with  its  historical  accessories, 
and  relations  to  a  contemporaneous  and  coUocal  devel- 
opment of  the  idea  of  personal,  human  dignity,  including 
rights  and  duties,  will  be  considered  hereafter :  at  the 
same  time  the  peculiar  distinction,  between  the  singular 
*'  Credo"  of  the  Latin  and  the  plural  " Fisteuomen"  of 
the  Greek,  will  be  found  suggestive. 

At  present  however  it  will  be  interesting  to  dwell 
upon  this  first  utterance  by  EngHsh,  French,  German, 
and  Italian,  but  not  Spanish  lips,  in  saying  the  Creed  ; 
because  it  is  a  bold  and  strong  position,  takeii  at  the 
outset  toward  Modern  Thought.  Two  departments  of 
Modern  Thought  join  issue  with  the  Creed  at  this  fii'st 
word-letter.  Science,  including  experiment  and  induc- 
tion, and  Philosophy,  including  metaphysics  ;  both  agree 
in  questioning  the  "I;"  or  the  "ego"  as  it  is  com^ 
monly   written,      Scientific   writers,   in   these    moderu 


!2         THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

times,  by  no  means  confine  themselves  to  their  own  do- 
main. If  they  would  do  so,  they  might  be  fellow-helpers 
to  the  truth.  Their  domain  lies  within  the  boundary  of 
empirical  fact.  Whatever  they  can  discover  by  experi- 
ment, or  positively  determine  by  fair  and  full  induction, 
must  be  accepted  as  truth,  and  therefore  believed. 

Although  their  disccvaries  have  already  modified  the- 
ology, they  have  never  yet  sapped  the  foundation  of  the 
Gospel ;  indeed  they  have  always  strengthened  it,  by 
adding  ncAV  buttresses  to  its  walls  ;  or  enlarged  it,  by  ex- 
tending the  horizon  of  its  outlook.  The  best  known 
instance  in  point  is  Galileo's  discovery.  He  was  perse- 
cuted, as  if  in  changing  theology  he  had  assailed  The 
Faith  ;  but  who  now  does  not  perceive  the  vast  gain,  to 
man's  conception,  of  the  greatness  of  the  Creator  and 
Preserver  of  the  Universe,  derived  from  the  knowledge 
of  the  revolving  satellites  and  planets  round  their  cen- 
tral suns,  with  the  revolving  solar-systems  around  far 
olf  centres,  and  these  cycle-systems  making  new  revo- 
lutions around  other  centres,  until  at  last  lost  in  the 
infinite  :  and  yet  not  lost  to  minds  capable  of  following 
on  and  up  to  the  thought,  of  the  whole  innumerable 
number  of  globes  and  systems  and  cycles,  making  the 
*'  music  of  the  spheres  "  and  "  singing  together  "  round 
the  Throne,  or  Central  Manifestation  to  His  Universe  of 
The  Most  High  !  The  discoveries  of  Geology  have  dis- 
j)ersed  the  mists  of  certain  theologic  theories,  about  six 
measurable  days  of  creation ;  but  they  have  confirmed 
the  larger  and  clearer  idea  of  great  periods  of  succession, 
in  which,  one  after  another  according  to  the  order  given 
in  Genesis,  the  world  has  been  made  ;  first  in  chaos  and 
then  developed,  formed  and  reformed,  until  man  came 
forth  upon  it.  The  gain  to  an  advanced  Theology  lies  in 
an  expanded  conception  of  the  greatness  of  the  Omni- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.         6 

scient,  to  Wliom  Time  is  One  Now,  and  Succession  One 
Present.  This  view  of  God  helps  Theology  wonderfully 
in  teaching  many  of  the  lessons  of  the  Gospel ;  e.  g.  the 
practical  unity  of  sacrifice  and  sacrament,  without  bring- 
ing Christ  down  from  above,  because  of  the  ever-presence 
and  ever-now  of  all  divine  acts  and  words  of  revelation 
to  man.  So  far,  therefore,  from  disturbing  "  The  Faith 
once  for  all  delivered  unto  the  Saints,"  science  has  only 
disturbed  some  systems  of  human  sacred  philosophy  or 
"theolog}'-,"  which  had  adopted  erroneous  constructional 
theories.  So  long  as  science  keeps  within  its  own  do- 
main, it  ought  to  be  honored  and  left  free.  It  need  not 
even  be  reverent,  for  it  deals  not  with  Divine  Providence, 
but  with  Nature  ;  which  obeys  law,  and  in  itself  shows  no 
moral  qualities,  but  acts  alike  on  the  just  and  the  unjust. 
The  facts  of  nature  are  true,  and  therefore  to  be  accepted 
as  facts  when  fully  discovered  and  fairly  shewn.  As 
nature  sweeps  in  and  out  inexorably,  through  both 
sanctuaries  and  the  world,  defiling  or  glorifying  accord- 
ing to  fixed  relations  of  material  cause  and  effect ;  so 
may  science  follow  her  without  awe,  and  question  her 
strictly,  either  in  common  ways  or  sacred  places.  In 
fact  science  has  nothing  directly  to  do  with  religion,  or 
morals,  op  even  sesthetics.  It  has  free  range  through 
experiment,  may  make  any  just  use  of  induction,  and, 
when  its  facts  appear,  should  state  them.  There,  how- 
ever, science  ends.  It  deals  with  the  past  positively, 
but  at  most  only  probably  with  the  future  because  it 
cannot  know  how  soon  a  new  development  of  nature 
may  recur ;  nor,  what  may  be  the  future  compUcations 
of  existence.  Its  very  principles  must  remain  indeter- 
minate until  nature's  work  shall  have  been  completed, 
for  then  onl}'  will  all  data  for  induction  be  furnished. 
If  men  use  the  facts  of  science,  as  grounds  for  meta- 


4        THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

pliysical  deductions,  they  cease  to  be  scientists,  and 
become  distinctively  philosophers.  If  they  use  them 
towards  religion  they  become  Theologians — either  an- 
tagonistic or  loyal  to  Cheist  and  The  Gospel.  "Whenever, 
thereforcs  a  man  comes  into  either  philosophy  or  theol- 
ogy, he  so  far  ceases  to  be  a  scientist.  The  "  axioms," 
the  "methods,"  and  the  "processes"  of  science  are  good 
only  within  its  own  sphere  and  scope.  If  they  are  trans- 
ferred, either  to  philosophy  or  theology,  they  cease  to  be 
effective.  They  are  like  fishes  upon  the  shore  ;  not 
breathless,  but  oppressed  with  too  much  air. 

Again,  Nature  while  studied  scientifically  demands  the 
axiom,  and  imj^oses  it  upon  all  her  students,  "that  all 
things  continue  as  they  w^ere  from  the  beginning  of  the 
creation."  "Whether  this  beginning  were  definite,  singu- 
lar and  germinal,  coeval  with  the  birth  of  Time  ;  or 
whether  there  has  been  or  can  be  an  eternally  unbegin- 
ning  series  of  events,  is  not  and  cannot  be  a  scientific 
question.  Metaphysics  deal  with  the  origin  and  begin- 
ning of  things.  As  a  philosophy  it  searches,  not  through 
experiment  but  through  correlation  of  ideas.  Hence 
Science,  when  reaching  out  of  its  sj)here,  becomes  science 
no  longer.  If  legitimately,  through  experiment,  it  proves 
a  fact,  that  fact  must  stand  even  against  Theology.  It 
must  however  be  shown  in  existence  before  this  can  be 
claimed  for  it.  If  again  by  fair  induction,  according  to 
its  own  axiom,  it  could  show  a  positive  necessity  of  the 
origin  of  things,  this  also  should  stand  whatever  else 
might  fall.  This  positive  necessity  however  should  be 
absolute,  not  contingent,  nor  capable  of  being  gainsaid. 
High  probability  is  not  proof  of  positive  necessity.  The 
long  continuance,  for  example,  of  "  the  order  of  nature  " 
may  throw  probability  upon  its  indefinite  extension  from 
the  present,  either  back  into  the  past  or  forwai'd  into  the 


THE    CKEED    AND    MODKRX    THOUGHT.  5 

future ;  but  it  falls  far  short  of  proving  that  uninter- 
rupted evolution  has  ever  or  forever  will  j)ervade  nature. 
In  fact  science,  in  its  best  forms,  and  as  interpreted  by 
its  best  students,  discovers  in  the  Universe  of  Matter, 
what  the  commonest  things  of  daily  observation  reveal 
to  ordinary  lookers  on  and  thinkers,  viz.  :  that  Nature 
is  carrying  the  Material  Earth  and  probably  all  worlds, 
through  a  systematic — though  not  unvarying,  and  seldom 
economical — course  of  germinal  inception,  progressive 
development,  mature  completion,  deterioration,  decay, 
destruction  and  reconstruction  again.  Science  must 
allow  that  this  "Law  of  Natui'e,"is  subject  to  constant, 
self-consistent  operations,  which  countei*vail  apparently 
its  own  Order.  Things,  which  according  to  that  Order 
should  pui'sue  a  regular  line  of  development  until  per- 
fection be  reached,  not  only  are  sometimes  but  very  com- 
monly interfered  with  in  mid-career.  It  is  exceedingly 
rare  to  see  anything  come  to  perfection.  Millions  of 
germs  die,  where  one  organism  is  developed :  millions 
of  organisms  die,  early  or  late,  and  seem  to  fail  of  any 
adequate  result.  Perfect  flowers,  fruits,  animals  and 
men  are  sought  in  vain  through  the  earth. 

Christians  are  not  sensitive  about  the  "imperfections" 
of  nature's  works.  They  are  not  left  to  struggle  ever  in 
doubt  and  difficulty,  as  all  must  who  deify  nature. 
There  is  a  grim,  unconscious  irony,  which  would  be 
ludicrous  if  it  were  not  dismal,  in  the  name  self-adopted, 
by  that  large  (?)  class  in  Modern  Europe  and  America, 
who  profess  to  see  and  know  nothing  but  what  "  natui'e  " 
reveals  to  experiment  or  to  induction  from  experiment; 
Their  "  positivism "  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  em- 
phasis with  which  they  refuse  to  think  upon  thinkable 
facts.  The  magisterial  tone  they  all  adopt,  when  declin- 
ing to  entertain'  the  idea  of  a  Creator,  upon  the  ground 


6         THE  CKEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT. 

that  as  He  cannot  be  experimented  upon  He  is  therefore 
unknowable,  recalls  the  worn  old  saying  about  the  will 
of  man  making,  by  arbitrary  choice,  his  opinions.  When 
"positivism"  takes  the  position  that  we  cannot  know 
anything  about  the  origin  and  much  less  of  the  Origina- 
tor of  the  Cosmos,  and  therefore  declines  to  entertain 
the  question  ;  the  only  answer  of  Common  Sense  is,  that 
if  men  will  look  solely  down  towards  *'  Nature,"  and  will 
not  look  into  themselves  and  into  adequate  historic  evi- 
dences, they  may  go  by  themselves  out  of  the  free  air 
of  the  open  firmament  of  thought,  into  their  wall-en- 
closed, self-locked,  little  natural  dungeon,  and  sound  its 
walls,  and  keep  each  other  in  countenance,  so  long  as 
they  like.  Humanity  cannot  spare  much  time  for  Posi- 
tivism. Man,  whether  avowedly  or  not,  is  in  fact  ear- 
nestly bent  upon  searching,  through  all  possible  avenues, 
after  the  real  and  the  true  ;  nor  will  he  give  up  any  that 
lie  open  to  him,  upon  the  mere  assertion  of  those,  who 
will  not  enter,  that  it  is  useless  to  go  in.  In  all  ages 
men  have  searched  after  God.  Positivism  cannot  stop 
them  now. 

It  may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  Comte  himself 
could  not  rest  in  his  own  positivism.  He  felt  the  irre- 
pressible human  yearning  after  The  One,  All ;  and 
longed  therefore  for  some  kind  of  worship.  For  this 
purpose  he  did  what  all  men  do,  who  pursue  truth  as 
they  will.  He  set  up  an  idol,  not  of  gold  indeed,  for  he 
w^as  not  a  worker  in  gold  ;  but  one  made  of  materials  in 
which  he  was  a  worker,  viz.:  ideas,  or  "the  stuff  that 
dreams  are  made  of."  He  set  up  an  ideal  "Humanity," 
for  men  to  worship  ;  whose  saints  were  the  gxeat  men 
of  the  earth,  and  whose  holiest  place  was  assigned  to 
ideal  womanhood.  This  idolatry  is  very  rife  now  in 
periodical  literature,  wherein  "  successful  men  "  ai-e  j^re- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.         i 

ssnted  as  the  liigliest  types  of  manliood ;  as  well  as  in 
popular  fiction,  wherein  charming  women  are  delineated 
a3  fit  objects  of  devotion.  He  began  by  denying  the 
l^jssibility  of  knowledge,  that  may  not  be  tested  by  ex- 
periment ;  and  ended,  in  worshipping  shadowy  abstrac- 
tions of  impossible  human  strength  and  beauty.  His 
followers — according  to  the  fixed  law  of  deterioration — 
will  of  course  worship  humanity  in  their  own  way,  by 
allowing  themselves  free  range  through  all  human  pas- 
sions ;  counting  their  gratification  as  the  most  acceptable 
because  reasonable  worship  of  the  God,  Humanity. 

This  worship  of  humanity  on  the  part  of  the  Positi- 
vists,  though  practically  tending  towards  a  refined  sensu- 
alism— to  be  succeeded,  through  inevitable  degradation, 
by  sensualism  without  refinement — is  as  yet,  among 
their  purest  writers,  a  kind  of  fascinating  mysticism. 
They  reach  it  by  deserting  the  hard  ways  of  their  own 
first  principles,  and  substituting  the  emotional  or  feeling 
consciousness,  for  the  intellectual  They  leave  logic  and 
betake  themselves  to  sentiment  Theh*  ideal-humanity  is 
a  m^'th  of  the  future,  comprising  all  that  is  strong  on  its 
mascuUne  side,  and  all  that  is  sweet  and  beautiful  in  its 
femininity. 

This  myth  is  evolved  by  intellectual  process,  not  with- 
out but  according  to  a  fixed  axiom,  viz.:  'that  every 
germ  contains  the  invincible  potentiality  of  its  own  per- 
fection. The  human  germ  is  ever  evolving  itself  toward 
human  perfectness.  The  time  will  come  and  the  place, 
wherein  humanity  shall  become  perfect  amid  ample  and 
entirely  congenial  environments.  It  is  woi-th  while  to  live 
for  this  ultimate  evolution.' 

Self  has,  in  this  end  and  aim,  the  opportunity  not 
only  to  deny  itself  as  Christianity  teaches  ;  so  that  every 
person,  retaining  forever  his  sense  of  and  due  valuation 


8  THE    CREED   AND   ItlODEKN   THOUGHT. 

for  distinct  personality,  may  yet  be  harmonious  "with  hu- 
manity in  all  regards  ;  but  it  even  has  the  opportunity 
of  making  a  holocaust  of  self.  It  seems  something  very 
grand  to  this  school,  to  talk  of  pure  unselfishness.  In- 
deed the  objection  is  constantly  urged  against  Christian- 
ity, that  it  cannot  absolutely  extinguish  self-interest,  and 
therefore  is  less  exalted  than  Positivism,  in  its  theory 
and  practice  of  sacrifice. 

It  may  be  worth  pausing  here  to  notice,  that  the 
primal  cell  of  the  germ  of  Positivism,  one  with  its  pervad- 
ing principle,  is  exactly  that  of  Christianity  itself,  viz.: 
sacrifice.  Now  sacrifice  is  simply  love's  own  manifesta- 
tion, responding  to  love's  essential  craving.  Love  must 
give,  for  its  own  vitality's  sake  ;  and  it  yearns  after  re- 
sponse, for  its  own  satisfaction.  Thus  sacrifice  is  love  in 
action  and  reaction. 

The  point  of  difference,  between  Christianity  and  Posi- 
tivism in  this  regard,  involves  the  old  question  of  the  ex- 
istence of  the  unit  ego,  the  "I."  Positivism  cannot  it- 
self escape  from  it,  for  both  its  ideal  humanity,  and  its 
notion  of  sacrifice  include  it.  What  can  jperfect  human- 
ity be,  except  an  aggregate  of  individuals,  or  an  organ- 
ism of  which  conscious  persons  form  duly  articulated 
parts!  In  either  case  the  "I"  is  prominent  as  ever. 
Again  the  very  idea  of  sacrifice  is  destroyed  ;  if  the  "  I  " 
be  destroyed,  for  nothing  would  be  left  to  manifest  and 
receive  love's  expression. 

Beyond  the  positions  already  considered,  there  may  be 
found  or  may  arise,  a  kind  of  mixed  school  of  Hegelian 
Positivists.  These  would  believe  not  in  a  coming,  ter- 
minal perfection  of  humanity  ;  but  in  one  ever  advancing, 
ever  evolving,  ever  "  becoming."  Tliis  class  would  be  the 
natural  successors  of  those  whom  S.  Paul  described  as 
*'  ever  learning  and  never  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.         9 

of  the  truth."  There  need  be  no  special  consideration 
given  to  them  ;  for  they  also  must  get  rid  of  the  conscious 
"I,"  before  they  can  find  a  conceivable  ground  for  their 
principles  ;  and  they  cannot  do  this  because,  as  has  been 
shown,  it  is  both  impossible  and  inconceivable.  A  myth- 
ical humanity  absorbent  of  all  persons,  is  an  idea  des- 
titute of  or  at  least  rejecting  all  features  or  distinctions, 
i.  e.  of  nothing  :  not  merely  the  "  no-thing  "  of  Hegel,  but 
the  absolute  and  hardly  expressible  "  7wn-ens."  Surely 
such  being  its  consequence,  Positivism,  as  a  rehgion  or 
system  of  worship  of  humanity,  is  not  better  than  as  a 
philosophy.  As  the  first,  it  gives  nothing  to  love  and 
adore  ;  and  as  the  second,  nothing  to  believe  or  think. 

All  these  preliminary  statements  and  discussions  have 
been  pursued,  because  they  show,  by  example,  the  kind 
of  contact  with  Modern  Thought  to  which  the  "  I "  of  the 
Creed  is  at  first  exposed.  The  Creed  does  not  enter 
into  the  question  of  the  constitution  or  origin  of  the 
*'  Ego."  It  leaves  science  to  search  out  the  "  cell "  of  all 
germinal  life,  and  follow  it  up  through  organites,  organs, 
organizations,  and  completed  organisms.  The  Creed 
begins  with  the  primal  consciousness,  or  rather  assur- 
ance of  person,  that  underlies  all  these.  The  organism 
of  man  may  have  begim  as  a  cell,  which  could  not  be 
distinguished  from  the  germinal  cell  of  a  tree,  reptile, 
fish,  bird  or  animal.  Science  may  have  this  gTound  to 
itself.  It  may  adopt  any  theory  it  thinks  best  fitted  to 
all  the  facts.  It  may  try  "Evolution  "  or  "Epigenesis  " 
or  any  method  expressed  by  any  term  it  chooses.  It  may 
discuss  whether  vital  force  is  or  is  not  a  property  of  mat- 
ter, and  whether  it  develops  from  within,  or  imposes 
gTOwth  from  without.  The  field  is  all  its  own.  Its 
facts,  when  found,  must  be  accepted.  Its  theories  must 
be  tested,  but  not  enforced  until  shown  conterminous 
1* 


10       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

both  with  all  facts  and  all  possibilities.  High  probabil- 
ity cannot  prove  any  theory  in  science,  nor  indeed  in 
any  other  department  of  knowledge  or  wisdom.  Histoiy 
is  strewed  with  wrecked  theories,  every  one  of  which 
stood  upright  long  and  floated  well,  until  some  unseen 
point  of  the  rock  of  truth,  pierced  it,  and  left  it  helpless  ; 
to  be  broken  and  blown  about  in  fragments,  or  to  sink 
wholly  out  of  sight.  No  facts  of  science,  have  disturbed 
the  Ego  of  man.  I  is  the  beginning  of  conscious- 
ness. *'  I  am  "  is  a  step  beyond  the  beginning  of  con- 
sciousness, being  the  beginning  of  understanding ;  as 
"  I  can  "  is  the  beginning  of  reason  or  at  least  of  the  use 
of  logical  faculty.  After  these  come  "I  want  and 
wish;"  "I  ought,"  "I  will,"  and  finally  experience  re- 
veals self -insufficiency^  and  the  "  1 "  cries  out  for  light, 
guidance,  defence,  deliverance,  pardon,  and  peace  ;  all 
concentring  in  "  I  love  "  and  "  I  would  be  loved." 

Before  all  these  however  is  the  unmistakable,  inde- 
structible, inalienable,  definite,  single  yet  all  inclosing, 
personal  self- consciousness  expressed  by  "I."  It  is  in- 
capable of  proof,  because  it  is  the  basis  upon  which 
proof  begins  to  build.  It  is  incapable  of  division,  be- 
cause it  is  the  simple  entity  of  self,  first  appearing  to  con- 
ciousness.  It  is  not  disturbable  by  any  attainment  of 
knowledge,  because  all  knowledge  presupposes  it.  If 
the  search  be  backward,  it  is  the  "I"  that  studies  the 
origin  of  things,  the  evolution  of  varieties,  the  epigenesis- 
of  cells  on  cells  and  organs  on  organs.  If  the  search  be 
carried  forward,  it  is  the  "  I "  that  weighs  probabilities, 
considers  laws  and  predictions,  forms  decisions,  mils, 
acts  and  is  amenable  to  consequences. 

This  I  or  Ego  is  the  centre,  and  throne  whence 
proceeds  the  energy  of  consciousness.  It  is  not  itself 
definite  consciousness,  for  during  apparent  suspension  of 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        11 

consciousness,  as  in  forgetfulness  or  in  sleep,  the  I 
continues.  It  remains  also  in  the  sub-consciousness  of 
indefinite  apperception  as  well  as  in  the  indefinably  con- 
scious apprehension  of  the  Infinite,  and  even  during,  so- 
called  unconscious  thoughts  and  deeds.  It  cognizes 
body,  soul,  and  spirit,  and  says  *'  My  body,  my  soul,  my 
spirit."  It  is  aware  of  relationship,  even  of  kinship, 
through  the  body,  with  matter,  organic  and  inorganic. 
It  has  a  fellowship  with  brutes,  and  a  community  with 
dust.  Through  the  soul  it  is  symj)athetic,  even  cognate, 
with  all  sentient  individuals,  which,  instinctively  or  other- 
wise, think  and  feel  and  wilL  Through  the  spirit  it 
overleaps  the  present,  on  either  hand,  and  lays  hold  of 
past  and  future  ;  distinguishing  either  fi'om  each  other, 
and  yet  bringing  both  before  it  in  present  contempla- 
tion. With  either  division  of  its  triplexity  it  cognizes  at 
will,  the  correlative  of  that  division.  Body  touches,  feels, 
and  controls  matter.  Soul  perceives  thought  and  feeling, 
cognizes  individuality,  and  rules,  while  it  sympathizes  re- 
ciprocally with,  body.  Spirit,  encompassing  and  pervading 
both  soul  and  body,  has  its  own  distinct  and  special  classes 
of  objects  and  fields  of  operation :  it  looks  before  and 
after,  up  and  down  ;  and  is  alone  capable  of  apprehend- 
ing The  Infinite,  of  perceiving  or  believing  in  other 
created  spirits,  and  of  calhng  forth  the  co-operation  of 
the  whole  triplexity,  or  of  engaging  any  part  thereof, 
in  any  act,  such  as  devotion  or  blasphemy,  upon  which 
it  may  decide.  There  is  a  reciprocity  running,  through 
all  the  departments  of  the  I,  and  yet  nothing  is  done 
by  one  upon  the  other  except  in  exact  accordance  with 
the  law  of  their  relation,  nor  can  this  occur  against  the 
active,  or  passive  assent  of  the  will,  which  centres  in  the 
I  and  is  only  subject  to  that  personality  of  which  I  is 
the  name  or  designation. 


12       THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

Hence  the  personal  man  is  the  link  that  binds  together 
all  known  or  indeed  conceivable  manifestations  of  finite 
substances.  He  is  also  the  only  known  being,  possess- 
ing a  material  part,  who  can  both  conceive  of  and  com- 
mune with  a  Pantocrat,  as  well  as  share,  according  to 
his  capacity,  in  all  His  works.  Man  thus  appears  not 
only  as  the  chief  mirror  of  the  Universe  reflecting  the 
Pantocrat ;  but  also  as  a  distinct  person,  to  whom  alone, 
among  known  earthly  creatui-es,  belongs  the  peculiar 
power  of  personally  perceiving,  and  knowing  the  pei'- 
sonality  of  the  Pantocrat. 

The  indivisible  unit,  I,  remains  unconfused  amid  its 
constitutional  triplexity  ;  and  is  ever  apparent,  and  per- 
cipient, through  every  complexity  of  its  environment,  or 
history  ;  and  yet  this,  I,  is  inseparable,  during  mortahty, 
from  its  body,  soul  and  spirit.  It  is  distinguishable  in 
thought  from  either,  and  for  aught  that  man  has  of  him- 
self discovered  or  probably  can  discover,  may  be  sep- 
arated from  either,  so  that  personal  consciousness  may 
be  "in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body  ; "  but  it  is  certain 
that,  in  the  normal  Hfe  of  this  mortahty,  the  I  dwells  in 
its  own  triplexity,  and  acts,  through  body,  soul  and  spirit, 
at  will,  calling  one  or  another  or  all  together  into  sub- 
jective contemplation  or  outward  action. 

This  common,  human,  personal  consciousness  in- 
cludes individuality,  but  is  not  exhausted  in  it.  Ani- 
mals have  individuality,  with  an  evident,  if  not  conscious- 
ness, at  least  idea  of  its  distinctions.  The  dog,  or  the 
horse,  never  mistakes  another's  individuality  from  his 
own.  like  the  individual  animal,  the  individual  man 
has  come  forth  from  the  primordial  cell  and  from  what 
further  back  we  as  yet  know  not.  Like  the  individual 
animal's  perception,  the  distinctive  perception  of  man's 
individuality  also  came  in  at  a  stage  of  the  growth.    Was 


THE   CREED    AISTD    MODERN    THOUGHT.  13 

this  evolution,  or  epigenesis  ?  Did  it  develop  out  of  the 
primordial  cell,  or  was  it  placed  upon  or  rather  in  the 
organism,  at  a  certain  stage  of  its  progress  ? 

These  and  all  like  questions  may  be  answered  in  any 
way  without  affecting  the  present  point.  The  "I,"  with 
which  the  Creed  opens,  is  the  primary  as  well  as  the  all 
encompassing  ground  of  consciousness.  It  underlies  the 
beginning  of  knowledge,  because  the  conscious  "  I  "  pre- 
cedes the  idea  "I  am."  Existence  is  a  discovery,  which 
may  be  examined  and  questioned,  but  the  consciousness 
of  self  or  "  I "  is  unquestionable,  indivisible,  and  impos- 
sible to  escape.  The  farthest  microscopic  pursuit  of  an- 
atomy is  only  able  to  discover  the  material  cell,  and  note 
its  development.  It  cannot  catch  the  principle  of  that 
development.  At  best  it  can  only  note  its  method  and 
process.  At  a  certain  stage,  viz.  :  that  of  the  full  out- 
come of  the  living  human  organism,  the  conscious  "  I " 
appears.  Once  apparent,  it  is  more  tenacious  than 
mortal  life.  It  begins  to  discriminate,  and  then  its 
rapid  and  varied  career  of  knowledge,  judgment,  con- 
science and  will  proceeds.  The  lowest  human  creature 
retains  it.  The  highest  intellect  holds  on  to  it ;  even  so 
far  that  those,  who  endeavor  to  resolve  the  human  per- 
sonality into  a  mere  congeries  of  material  atoms  working 
according  to  "  law,"  are  never  able  to  express  themselves 
in  any  language  which  does  not  assume  the  conscious 
"I"  as  the  very  basis  of  their  systems. 

If  we  be  asked  how  that  which,  as  a  material  organism, 
began  at  a  cell,  is  composed  of  parts  wherein  functions 
dwell,  is  evidently  impelled  by  motives  often  mixed,  and 
is  guided  by  will,  can  be  a  single  indivisible  entity :  we 
answer  that  we  do  not  see  the  steps  nor  understand  the 
processes  through  which  this  result  can  be  possible,  but 
we  ai'e  convinced  that  it  is  possible  because  we  know 


14       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUaHT. 

that  it  is  actual,  and  so  does  every  man,  for  the  first 
human  idea  takes  it  for  granted,  the  first  attempt  at 
speech  assumes  it  as  a  fact,  and  all  thought  and  word 
include  it. 

If,  as  some  have  suggested,  there  may  now  be  intelli- 
gences somewhere  who  can  see  how  the  innumerable 
constituents  of  the  individual  man  have  operated  to- 
gether by  natural  law,  and,  reciprocally  modifying  one 
another,  have  resulted  in  the  singly  conscious  I — made 
up  of  numerous  factors,  and  like  a  chemical  compound 
in  being  another  substance  than  any  one  constituent,  but 
unlike  it  in  having  every  constituent  normal — we  an- 
swer ;  first,  that  such  intelligencies  are  as  yet  unknown, 
and  therefore  the  question  is  of  no  practical  use  ;  and 
secondly,  that  its  solution  either  way  would  not  help  us, 
for  the  I  would  cease  to  be  I,  if  it  became  conscious  of 
parts  component,  not  merely  of  its  environing  organiza- 
tion, but  of  itself.  If  it  be  asked,  '  Is  not  this  cessation 
possible?'  the  answer  is,  that  it  is  inconceivable  and 
inexpressible  :  its  possibility  may  be  allowed  as  we  may 
conceive  of  blank  nothingness,  but  as  a  definite  idea  we 
have  no  conception  and  can  have  none  of  such  possi- 
bihty. 

The  most  probable  future  of  man  and  of  men  who  all  ac- 
cord in  this  primary  I,  wiU  come  up  for  consideration  fur- 
ther on  in  the  Creed.  Then  we  may  have  to  meet  Science 
again  in  discussion.  The  personality  involved  in  the  I, 
as  well  as  the  difference  between  the  individual  animal 
and  the  personal  man,  will  also  come  under  review  when 
the  distinctions  between  body,  soul  and  spirit  come  up 
in  the  order  of  the  Creed.  Then  again  Science  may  pos- 
sibly have  a  word  to  say. 

Thus  far  it  is  surely  evident  that  Science  has  nothing 
of  experiment,  and  can  find  nothing  by  fair  induction, 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THO 

to   oppose   successfully  against  that 
Creed,  the  word-letter  I. 

Metaphysical  philosophy  also  joins 
Creed  at  its  "I."  Positivism,  which  we 
considered  in  connection  with  science,  is  j 
in  the  clouds  between  science  and  metaphysics  ;  across 
which  philosophers  and  scientists  pass  and  repass ;  in 
such  confusion,  that  it  is  hard  now  to  say  whether  "  pop- 
ular science  "  is  most  metaphysical,  or  metaphysics  most 
involved  in  the  now  popular  microscopy  of  science. 
Both  are  remarkable  for  their  engrossment  with  the 
little  point  in  the  past,  where  the  origin  of  all  things  is 
sought  after  in  the  fii'st  geim  of  matter,  or  in  the  fii'st 
infinitesimal  potency  of  life. 

Biology,  or  the  logos  of  life,  is  a  department  of  meta- 
physics, which  has  not  quite  escaped  fi*om  the  dominion 
of  science.  In  searching  affcer  the  oiigin  and  into  the 
basis  of  life,  it  does  not  start  by  acknowledging  a  begin- 
ning, and  then  seeking  the  cause.  Did  it  do  so,  it  would 
follow  the  old  theistical  course  ;  and,  with  aU  religious 
minds,  inevitably  come  to  the  behef  that  "in  the  begin- 
ning God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth."  Thence 
it  would  not  be  hard  to  force  it  on  to  Christianity's  pri- 
mary and  pervading  fact,  that  "in  the  beginning  was 
the  Logos,  and  the  Logos  was  with  God,  and  the  Logos 

was  God All  things  were  made  by  Him 

In  Him  was  life  ;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men,"  S. 
Jn.  I.  "And  God  said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  there 
was  light."  Gen.  I.  3.  The  Logos  of  life,  is  to  the  Chris- 
tian "  The  Word  of  God."  If  Biology  can  succeed  in  find- 
ing and  showing  another  Logos  of  Life,  it  may  establish 
itself  without  dependence  upon  Theism,  or  obligation  to 
Christianity.  It  must  however  do  this  positively,  and 
actually.     It  will  not  do  simply  to  vai-y  the  old  statement 


16        THE  CEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

of  the  abstract  "Vital  Principle."  An  abstraction  is  not 
a  power.  It  is  simply  a  form  of  expression  to  denote 
the  idea  of  power  apart  from  its  subject  or  medium. 
Abstract  life  is  simply  conceivable  vitality,  not  yet  active. 
There  is  neither  self  existence,  nor  potentiality  in  an  ab- 
straction. This  is  a  point  which,  on  merely  metaphysi- 
cal grounds,  theists  of  all  classes  including  Christians 
have  a  right  to  insist  upon.  They  may  hold  the  biolo- 
gists tightly  to  it.  Even  when  they  begin  to  slip  out, 
by  taking  up  the  formula  "Vital  Force,  or  Energy," 
they  should  not  be  allowed  to  interchange  that  with 
"  Abstract  Life."  The  two  are  not  even  correlative  terms, 
much  less  equivalents.  In  fact  life  is  energy,  but  only 
objectively  and  experimentally  as  far  as  man  can  dis- 
cover :  and  the  objective  is  not  the  side  on  which  Biology 
stands.  Biologists  must  not  be  suffered  to  claim,  that 
they  show  the  origin  of  life  ;  while  their  arguments  and 
illustrations  and  even  definitions  are  all  on  the  objective 
or  outside  of  that  which  they  pretend  from  within  to 
define,  illustrate  and  prove  as  to  its  essence.  Analytical 
biologists,  at  least  from  the  time  of  Aristotle  to  this  age, 
have  utterly  failed  to  exhibit  the  cause  or  the  beginning, 
or  the  basis,  or  the  essence  of  life.  Both  science,  at  the 
primordial  cell,  and  metaphysics,  at  Vital  Force  or 
Energy,  either  unwillingly  proclaim  or  willingly  ac- 
knowledge that  further  back,  than  these  first  facts  and 
ideas  of  -vital  operation,  there  is  a  life  yet  undiscovered 
and  unsearched.  In  them  it  is  already  operative.  How 
long  it  has  been  in  operation,  and  by  what  steps  it  has 
progressed  towards  the  cell,  or  towards  pervading  energy, 
science  has  not  discovered,  nor  metaphysics  conceived. 

The  "  I "  of  the  Creed  stands  far  up  above  Vital  Energj^, 
and  far  beneath  the  primordial  cell.  It  can  follow  un- 
disturbed both  science  in  its  dissections  even  under  the 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       17 

microscope,  and  metaphysics  in  their  most  subtle  analy- 
ses. It  need  not  be  scornful  towards  these  searchers  after 
the  essence  of  life,  because  they  have  failed.  It  may  even 
praise  the  wonderfully  patient  industry,  and  close  obser- 
vation of  the  experimenters ;  as  well  as  the  exceeding 
acuteness  of  the  philosophers.  It  may  shut  ear  to  then* 
reciprocal  confutations,  and  their  mutual  disrespect.  It 
may  smile  without  bitterness  at  their  one  ground  of  unity, 
viz.:  a  common  superciliousness  towards  Theism  with 
scorn  of  Christianity.  It  may  learn  much  from  them 
about  fact,  evidence  and  laws.  It  may  even  bid  them 
God  speed  in  all  their  honest  and  true  examinations, 
and  in  all  their  earnest  and  sincere  searchings.  There 
is  now  no  nearer  approach  to  discoveiy  of  the  essence 
of  hfe,  than  there  was  about  three  and  a  half  thousand 
years  ago,  when  Zophar  said  "  Canst  thou  by  search- 
ing find  out  God?  Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty 
to  perfection  ?  It  is  high'^as  heaven ;  what  canst  thou 
do  ?  deeper  than  hell ;  what  canst  thou  know  ?  "  Life 
is  this  great  something  which  fiUs  aU  heights  and 
depths.  Modem  Biologists  are,  in  every  essential  par- 
.ticular,  one  with  that  class  whom  Moses,  the  Psalmist, 
fhe  Prophets  and  the  Apostles  met,  and  answered  in 
their  time.  The  same  answer  is  good  now.  The  "I" 
of  the  Creed  looks  out  upon  the  science  and  pliilosophy 
of  to-day,  as  it  looks  down  the  vistas  of  history.  It  re- 
mains unshaken,  single,  concrete,  and  serene  as  ever. 
If  it  can  be  overtui-ned,  let  him  do  it  who  can  find  a 
ground  beyond  it.  Meanwhile  it  stands  for  all  men,  as 
the  expression  of  the  conscious  unity  of  concrete  per- 
sonality ;  the  underlying,  first  course  of  the  structure  of 
knowledge ;  the  all  sustaining  upholder  of  one's  whole 
capacity,  attainment  and  development.  It  is  assured  by 
and   contented  in   a  subconscious  rest — real,  felt  and 


18  THE    CREED   AND    MODERN   THOUGHT. 

strong,  thougji  necessarily  undefinable — upon  tlie  Life 
of  the  Philosopliers,  the  GOD  of  the  Theists,  and  the 
Logos  of  Christians. 

Without  we  hope  anticipating  too  much,  it  has  been 
necessary  to  consider  God  and  Christ  in  order  to  estab- 
lish before  modern  thought  the  very  beginning  of  the 
Creed,  Theism  and  Christianity  yet  remain  for  further 
and  fuller  and  deeper  consideration.  The  necessity  we 
have  been  under,  however,  is  worth  remarking,  as  an  il- 
lustration of  the  complete  unity — not  simply  unison  of 
agreement,  but  indivisible  oneness — of  the  Creed.  God 
fills  it.  Christ  is  its  beginning  and  ending.  Light  and 
life  pervade  it.  Every  part  stands  out  distinctively  ;  yet 
all  parts  are,  like  vital  organs  in  one  living  organism, 
distinguishable  but  inseparable. 

The  details,  of  biological  experiment  and  induction, 
have  not  been  followed  out,  because  such  a  course  would 
burthen  without  aiding  our  present  argument.  It  is 
enough  to  have  considered  the  one  point,  upon  which  all 
analytical  biology  hinges  and  turns.  At  the  last,  utmost, 
final  verge  of  its  investigation  it  comes  upon  the  "  pri- 
mordial cell " — or  as  some  say  to  its  "  nucleus,  protojolasm 
and  integument " — .  There  it  stops  in  the  analytical  d^ 
rection.  Theism  and  Christianity  both  ask,  "Whence 
this  primordial  cell  ?  "  The  Positivists  say,  "  It  is,  and  it 
is  the  beginning  of  life,  and  more  than  that  cannot  be 
known."  The  answer  is  that,  "  Cause  positively  precedes 
effect  through  all  human  experience  ;  and  therefore  when 
we  have  analyzed  existence  back  to  its  first  known  form 
and  beginning,  we  must  either  contradict  all  exj)erience 
by  saying  that  this  cell  is  self-caused,  or  we  must  believe 
in  an  as  yet  unknown  cause."  Thus  believing  Ave  are  at 
liberty  to  seek  signs  and  evidences  of  this  Unknown  Cause. 
Physics  having  failed  us,  and  metaphysics  having  thus 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT.       19 

far  failed  also,  we  have  a  right  to  hold  the  doctrine  of 
the  Fii'st  Cause  ojpen  for  further  investigation.  The 
"I"  still  stands,  strong  in  concrete  self-consciousness, 
and  asks,  "  "What  more  !  " 

Metajphysics  have  further  proceeded  in  this  investiga- 
tion of  "Ufe" — in  hope  of  disintegrating  the  "I" — not 
solely  through  analytical  biology — which  we  have  seen 
is  half  science  and  half  philosophy,  and  altogether  micro- 
scopic— ;  but  through  Synthetical  'Biology.  This  also 
starts  indeed  at  the  primordial  cell,  but  shps  away  from 
the  question,  "  'WTience  this  cell,  what  its  origin,  where  its 
cause  ?  "  and  stai-ts  off  in  the  other  direction.  It  synthe- 
sizes, or  puts  together  the  whole  phenomena  of  life,  and 
views  it  in  detail,  through  its  numerous  classes  and 
kinds  of  completed  organisms.  It  treats  of  man  as  he  is 
completed,  and  in  like  manner  of  animals,  plants,  min- 
erals, and  finally  of  the  whole  universe  or  Cosmos. 

It  will  of  course  be  understood  that  the  term  "com- 
I)leted  "  is  here  used,  not  in  reference  to  the  future.  It 
does  not  assume  the  impossibility  of  further  evolutions 
or  epigeneses.  It  is  used  only  to  designate  the  i^resent, 
concrete  existence  of  the  Cosmos,  with  its  mineral,  vege- 
table, animal  and  human  departments,  and  their  per- 
sonal or  individual  developments — in  existing  form,  force 
and  order — within  those  departments.  "  Completed," 
therefore,  as  now  used,  may  be  understood  as  equivalent 
to  'perfected  as  far  as  human  experience  as  yet  has 
gone.' 

The  Synthetical  Biologists  are  obliged  to  face  the 
question  "  What  is  life  ? "  Not  only  do  Theism  and 
Christianity  press  it  upon  them  ;  but  the  common  crav- 
ing of  human  intelligence  demands  that  it  be  answered. 

"Chance,"  "Law,"  and  "Force  or  Energy  "  have  had 
theu'  day.     Philosophers,  in  past  yeai's,  have  strenuously 


20  THE    CREED    AND   MODERN   TIIOrGHT. 

argued,  now  for  one  and  now  for  another.  All  alike  have 
failed  to  show  either  that  these,  or  any  of  them,  are  self- 
caused  and  self-sustained.  The  analysts  have  not  found 
the  origin  of  chance,  law,  force,  or  energy,  and  the  syn- 
thesists  have  failed  to  show  them  acting  in  self-support- 
ing and  all-sustaining  power. 

The  latest  synthesists  have  attempted  to  define  and 
even  account  for  life.  They  start  with  this,  which  they 
claim  as  an  axiom  ; 

"  Life  is  only  possible  in  relation  to  a  medium."  * 

The  obvious  defect  in  this  statement,  is  that  all  we 
know  and  therefore  all  we  can  affirm  is.  That  the  appear- 
ance or  manifestation  of  life  "  is  only  possible  in  relation 
to  a  medium,"  so  far  as  human  experience  and  man's 
present  powers  of  observation  extend.  What  is  impos- 
sible, in  or  for  Life,  cannot  be  expressed  until  we  know 
Life,  not  merely  in  its  manifestations,  but  in  itself  i.  e. 
in  its  essence. 

Again  "  Life  is  the  continuous  adjustment  of  internal 
relations  to  external  relations."     (Herbert  Spencer.)  -j* 

The  effect  confounded  with  the  cause !  Manifested 
life  is  here  defined,  and  its  operation  declared,  but  we 
are  no  nearer  yet  to  the  definition  of  the  essence  of  life, 
nor  to  an  account  of  its  origin  and  principle  or  energy 
of  continuity. 

If  it  be  repHed  that  we  cannot  know  the  "  noumenon," 
the  essence  of  anything — life  included  ; — then  the  ground 
taken  by  the  Biologists  is  abandoned.  Upon  their  own 
principle  their  definition  of  life  is  a  failure.  Nor  can  they 
ever  deny  hfe's  existence,  since  they  cannot  even  define  it. 

If  asked  for  our  definition  of  life,  we  answer  with  the 
philosophers  that  we  do  not  know  its  essence  ;  we  only 

*  Physical  Basis  of  Mind.     G.  H.  Lewes,  Boston,  1877,  p.  81. 
t  lb.  p.  33. 


TPIE    CREED    AND   MODEEN   THOUGHT.  21 

know  that  it  is,  by  its  manifestations,  especially  by  tlie 
personal  and  common  human  consciousness  of  being 
alive. 

Why  then  do  we  affirm  the  fact  of  life  ? 

As  we  affirm  every  fact,  upon  its  manifestations.  Hu- 
man nature  is  so  constituted  that  it  inevitably  assumes 
substance  under  all  accidents ;  essence  before  energy, 
and  noumenon,  or  the  thing  as  it  is,  as  the  ground  of  all 
phenomena.  The  manifestations  of  life  declare  the  exist- 
ence of  life.  They  leave  life  itself  indeed  undefined  and 
indefinable  ;  but  only  thus  more  assuredly  and  satisfac- 
torily real,  because  we  do  not  hold,  we  only  hold  on  to 
lifa,  and  are  upheld  by  it.  It  is  more  than  we  are,  and 
therefore  not  to  be  encompassed  by  so  small  a  part  of  us 
as  our  understandings. 

Following  still  further  Mr.  G.  H.  Lewes  because  as 
yet  he  leads  the  van  of  the  most  advanced  Biologists, 
and  not  to  burthen  the  text  too  much,  we  quote  his  own 
definition  of  life.  If  that  fails,  then  all  lesser  attempts 
to  define,  become  buried  in  its  grave. 

First  he  distinguishes  between  "  Vitality  and  Life," 
making  the  first  potential  and  the  second  operative,  not 
abstractly  or  rather  not  in  self-existence  but  both  in  re- 
lation to  their  medium,  "  as  the  statical  and  dynamical 
aspects  of  the  organism."  "  To  determine  what  Life 
means,  we  must  observe  and  classify  the  phenomena  pre- 
sented by  living  beings.  To  determine  what  Vitality — 
or  organization — means,  we  must  observe  and  classify  the 
processes  which  go  on  in  organized  substances." 

Having,  as  he  thinks,  cleared  his  path  he  submits  this 
definition,  "  Life  is  the  functional  activity  of  an  organism 
in  relation  to  its  medium,  as  a  synthesis  of  three  terms 
Structure,  Aliment  and  Instrument ;  it  is  the  sum  of 
functions  which  are  the  resultants  of  vitality ;  vitality 


22       THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

being  the  sum  of  the  properties  of  matter  in  the  state  of 
organization."* 

The  whole  fallacy  of  this  definition  lies  in  the  word 
*'  is  " ;  which  is  given  in  italics — not  by  the  author — .  It 
is  an  assumption  which  runs  through  and  vitiates  this 
and  all  the  many  other  wonderfully  learned,  acute  and 
able  writings  of  the  Synthetical  Biologists. 

The  answer  to  one  and  all  is  the  same  viz.  :  the  mani- 
festation of  life  is  not  the  essence  of  life. 

"Life"  indeed  manifests  itself  in  "the  functional 
activity  of  an  organism,"  etc.,  etc.  ;  but  life  is  thus  in 
effect  or  operation  ;  and  its  cause  must  be  sought,  or  its 
essence  sought  and  found,  if  found  at  all,  farther  back. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  these  Biologists,  both 
analytical  and  synthetical,  are  unaware  of  this  objection 
now  made  to  their  definitions.  Not  one  of  them,  how- 
ever, faces  the  objection.  They  "  all  with  one  consent  " 
put  it  aside ;  some  refusing  in  terms  to  consider  it,  and 
some  giving  the  reason  of  Positivism  viz.  :  that  a  First 
Cause,  whether  considered  as  an  outside  Power  or  an 
inside  Force,  "  must  be  rejected  because  it  is  metempiri- 
cal  and  unverifiable." 

Even  accepting  their  own  ground,  what  have  the  Biolo- 
gists to  offer,  beyond  a  mere  confusion  between  essence 
and  activity,  a  mere  chaotic  minghng  together  of  cause 
and  effect  ?  Like  the  old  chaos  all  the  elements  of  exist- 
ence are  found  among  their  thoughts  and  words  but 
only  the  brooding  Spirit  can  draw  forth  from  them  the 
idea  as  He  once  did  the  actuaUty  of  the  living,  concrete 
Cosmos,  teeming  with  forms,  and  ruled  over  by  godlike 
persons.  Rejecting  this  Spirit  of  Life,  they  must  of 
course  wander  hopelessly  in  their  chosen  chaos. 

*  Physical  Basis  of  Mind.    G.  H.  Lewes,  Boston,  lb77,  pp.  34-36. 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.        23 

Metaphysics — pure  and  simple — have  a  field  quite 
apart  from  science,  whereon  they  sometimes  conflict  with 
the  "I"  of  the  Creed.  They  have  two  departments ;  I. 
that  which  concerns  the  common  internal  constitution 
of  man,  including  all  a  priori  reasoning ; "  and  II.  that 
which  concerns  the  whole  environment  of  man,  taking 
in  the  Universe  or  Cosmos,  and  including  all  d,  posteriori 
reasoning. 

The  second  department  touches  the  Creed  most  dis- 
tinctly at  the  article  upon  The  Creation  ;  although  both, 
in  their  final  conclusions,  contravene  the  self-conscious 
personality  or  I.  They  should  rather  j^erhaps  be  said  to 
endeavor  to  contravene  this  self-consciousness,  than  actu- 
ally to  succeed  in  doing  so.  Even  the  Idealists,  who  re- 
solve all  man's  environment  into  "  a  permanent  possibility 
of  sensation  "  ;  (J.  S.  Mill)  and  make  of  his  personality 
only  a  separate  "permanent  possibility  of  feeling"  are 
unable  to«depict  even  their  shadowy  conceptions,  without 
always  manifesting  and  often  asserting  the  primary  self- 
consciousness,  or  sub-consciousness  of  the  indivisible, 
unavoidable  I. 

When  the  Idealists  argue  that  we  cannot  know  any- 
thing as  it  is  in  itself,  but  only  as  it  appears  to  us  ;  they 
state  what  appears  to  mortal,  human  understanding,  a 
self-evident  proposition.  When  however  they  proceed 
to  argue,  that  all  existence  is  ideal  and  not  real,  because 
it  is  now  apparent  to  us  through  ideas,  they  simply 
do  what  we  have  already  seen  the  Biologists  persist  in. 
They  transpose  or  rather  confuse  cause  and  effect.  When 
they  push  their  point  to  the  utmost  and  say  that  the  per- 
son, or  I,  cannot  know  itself,  but  only  the  idea  of  self,  and 
hence  conclude  that  the  I  is  unreal  ;  they  only  exhibit 
absurdly,  what  they  have  shown  distinctly  in  all  their 
reasonings,  viz.  :  a  chaotic  confusion  of  abstract  notions. 


24       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

in  wliicli  cause  and  effect  intermingle  witliout  either 
order  or  succession. 

Even  the  Idealist  himself  holds  inconsistently  to  his 
own  identity,  though  why  the  Cosmos  should  not  hold 
him  rather  than  he  the  Cosmos,  he  cannot  tell.  Nor 
when  two  Idealists  meet,  can  either  tell  which  one  of 
themselves  is  and  which  only  seems  ;  nor  indeed  whether 
they  are  not  both  together  the  most  attenuated,  shadows 
of  nothing 

This  pursuit  will  not  be  carried  further  at  this  point ; 
because  we  shall  be  compelled  to  return  to  the  metaphysi- 
cal conceptions  of  the  Cosmos,  when  we  consider  current 
philosophy  as  part  of  the  bearing  of  Modern  Thought 
upon  the  Creed's  doctrine  of  the  Creation. 

It  is  fair  and  just  now  at  least  to  claim  and  assert,  that 
our  first,  substanding  consciousness,  preceding  all  knowl- 
edge and  all  action,  is  the  indivisible,  concrete  unity  of 
assured,  distinctive  personality,  universally  kuQwn  as  I. 

Nothing  has  cut  under,  and  nothing  can  cut  under, 
this  primary  self-apprehension.  Nothing  has  resolved 
it  into  further  elements.  It  is,  in  its  own  nature,  the 
element  that  holds  ideas  and  concepts  in  solution  or  sus- 
pension, or  the  hand  which  touches  or  grasps  realities, 
but  which  cannot  itself  be  dissolved  nor  dissected  by  any. 
The  primal  nature  of  its  constitution  and  position  puts  it 
before  all  else.  Hence  the  Creed — which  must,  as  it  is 
true,  go  to  the  root  of  humanity — begins  at  this  last 
verge  of  human  consciousness,  and  teaching  us  first  to 
say  "I,"  sets  its  seal  of  sanction  upon  man  as  he  feels 
himself  to  be.  Thus  the  Creed  begins  to  manifest  its 
depth,  as  afterwards  it  shows  its  fulness,  of  accord  with 
aU  true  humanity. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT.        25 


"Ilk." 

The  initial  pronoun  of  Tlie  Creed  is  "  I "  tlirougliout 
The  West,  while  all  The  East  says  "We."  By  this  dif- 
ference,  is  set  forth  the  characteristic  distinction,  that 
runs  through  the  differing  civilizations,  of  the  two  great 
streams  of  polities  and  societies,  which  have  flowed  out 
from  the  region  about  Jerusalem.  Each  is  supplemental 
to  the  other,  while  both  are  essential  semi-units  of  one 
great  fact.  The  oneness  of  organic  humanity,  underlying 
eastern  thought,  has  developed  the  Eastern  Kingdoms 
and  forms  of  oriental  society ;  while  the  dignity  of  the 
individual  has  been  the  idea,  ever  present  but  slowly 
emerging  towards  power  and  recognition,  through  all  the 
political  and  social  institutions  of  the  West.  Through 
all  western  forms  of  advancing  thought,  and  expanding 
character  also,  may  be  seen  the  power  of  an  intense, 
and  irrepressible  consciousness  of  distinct  personality. 
It  is  true  that  egotism  accompanies  this  egoism,  weakens 
it,  and  lays  it  open  to  sarcasm.  But  in  spite  of  the  self- 
sufficiency  and  self-mil,  which  are  growing  wildly  in 
this  age  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  pre-eminence,  in  this 
regard,  ascribed  to  the  American  people  ;  there  is  under 
all  a  fact  and  a  power  of  personal  consciousness,  from 
which  evils  are  certainly  arising,  but  out  of  which  eveiy 
true  man,  conscious  of  his  manhness,  may  hope  for  the 
emergence  of  a  higher  human  dignity,  and  more  resplen-? 
dent  personal  glory,  than  the  world  has  ever  yet  beheld. 

Some  sneer  at  "faith  in  man."    The  fearful  tremble 


26       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

at  the  degradation  that  may  follow  self-sufficiency  and 
self-will,  when  left  to  operate  alone  upon  possessors  of 
human  appetites  and  passions,  amid  the  opportunities 
and  temptations  of  this  earthly  life.  The  selfish  and 
cunning  flatter,  that  they  may  destroy.  The  earoest, 
and  loving  and  hopeful  may  dread  the  coming  fieiy  trial ; 
and  even  the  faithful  may  go  forward  with  heating 
hearts.  The  time  however  has  come,  when  man — in  his 
distinct,  personality,  calling  no  man  master — is  contrib- 
uting his  chapter  to  human  history ;  and  making  his 
indelible  mark  on  the  record  of  the  ages. 

*'The  Creed  "stands  out  in  this  modern  age,  at  this 
eve  of  a  great  crisis,  like  a  Hving  warrior  armed  with 
light ;  and  plants  itself  at  the  van  of  the  vanguard.  Its 
very  first  word,  shows  it  to  be  in  full  sympathy,  with  man 
as  man.  It  is  a  formula  indeed,  made  up  of  words,  but 
no  man  knows  who  constructed  it.  It  came  out  early  in 
the  opening  of  the  "  last  time,"  and  thus  far,  through  all 
its  vicissitudes,  has  lain  and  worked  like  leaven.  In  its 
several  aspects  it  has  been  always  active,  and  often  visibly 
effective.  As  leaven,  it  has  helped  the  uprising  of  hu- 
manity, and  promoted  union,  recij)rocal  symx^athy  and 
charity.  As  loord,  it  has  proclaimed  the  unit}^  of  truth. 
As  power,  it  has  grappled  with  mind,  and  touched  con- 
science, and  furthered  i^rogress. 

Its  germinal  origin  accounts  for  its  energy,  living  utter- 
ance, and  irrepressible  ever-renewed  uprisings  ;  but  that 
point  must  be  left,  until  what  is  necessary  to  consider 
of  its  history  comes  into  view.  Now  we  are  regarding 
"  The  Creed  "  simply  as  a  present  fact,  a  real,  effective 
and  acknowledged  element,  among  the  forces  of  this  age 
and  land.  It  stands  in  the  forefront  of  rehgion,  and 
claims  to  show  The  True  EeUgion,  It  is  neither  apologetic 
nor  dogmatic,     It  asserts  simply,  definitely  and  broadly. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       27 

It  is  a  congeries  of  facts,  set  forth  as  facts  and  not  merely 
as  opinions.  It  would  be  riglitfully  scorned,  and  re- 
-  jected  at  the  outset  if  it  were  merely  the  badge  of  a  sect. 
Its  whole  is  humanity's  inheritance.  Its  parts  correspond 
to  essential  and  universal  human  needs.  Unless  all  this 
is  true,  its  very  name  "  The  Creed  "  becomes  horribly  gro- 
tesque, or  hatefully  presumptuous.  They  who  stand  un- 
der its  banner,  and  follow  its  leadership,  and  support  its 
claims,  must  therefore  be  enlarged  so  as  to  take  all  human- 
ity within  the  scope  of  both  their  charity  and  their  zeal. 
They  must  also  appreciate  the  dignity  and  worth  of  the 
individual  person.  Humanity  must  not  absorb  man,  as 
if  it  were  another  being  of  which  the  individual  is  the 
food  to  be  masticated  and  digested.  Nor  must  the  in- 
dividual use  the  mass,  as  a  mine  out  of  which  to  cut 
whatever  his  appetites  crave,  his  passions  desire,  or  his 
power  can  control.  The  organism  should  respect  the 
members,  and  the  members  revere  the  organic  whole, 
while  in  their  rightful,  reciprocal  reactions  the  good  of 
all,  with  the  satisfaction  of  every  one,  will  only  be  surely 
found  and  secui-ed. 

At  the  outset  "  The  Creed  "  shows  itself  in  complete 
harmony  with  both  man  and  humanity.  "  I "  and  "  We  " 
are  concentric  words.  Both  are  accepted  throughout 
Christendom.  Their  acceptance  is  testimony  to  their 
harmony.  Their  repetition,  by  believing  Hps,  is  an  ex- 
pression of  assurance  that  man,  in  his  individuahty,  is 
so  dignified,  so  important  and  so  great,  that  "  I "  is  a 
proper  term  for  him  to  use,  when  he  begins  his  rehgious 
speech :  and  it  is  also  an  expression  of  conviction,  that 
what  is  meet  for  one  man  is  meet  also  for  all  men.  Thus 
the  complete  entity  of  every  human  person,  and  his  or- 
ganic unity  with  or  in  humanity  at  large,  together  with 
the  oneness  of  truth — one  to  all  men  and  to  every  man — 


28  THE    CKEED   AND   MODEEN   THOTJGnT. 

lie  inclosed  in  the  singular  and  plural  forms  of  the  first, 
personal  pronoun  of  The  Creed.  They  are  not  proved 
because  they  underlie  the  very  ground  of  aU  argument. 
They  are  assumed  axiomatically  upon  the  common,  and 
even  when  formally  disallowed  obviously  acknowledged, 
consent  of  all  men.  Hence  the  necessity  of  j^rimarily 
setting  forth  the  sure  and  strong  ground  of  the  assump- 
tion ! 

These  three  points,  therefore,  come  first  under  re- 
view : 

I.  The  distinct  personality  of  every  human  creature  ; 

II.  The  conjunction,  in  organic  unity,  of  one  with  all ; 

III.  The  absoluteness  of  truth,  involving  its  essential, 
inherent,  and  immortal  consistency  ;  as  well  as  its  objec- 
tive self-existence,  self-causation  and  personality. 

I.  The  basis  of  all  human  knowledge  is  consciousness. 
"I  am,"  not  because  "I  think,"  but  simply  and  without 
reason  or  explanation  first  I,  then  I  am.  Not  only  am 
I  generally,  as  if  part  of  a  great  aggregate  of  existence  ; 
but  I  am,  distinctively  both  as  to  and  towards  every 
other  being  or  entity.  Reflection  supposes  one  reflect- 
ing. Obsei'vation  is  the  work  of  one  looking  outward  or 
inward  ;  and  taking  note  of  objects  without,  "or  feelings 
within.  It  is  impossible  to  escape  this  primary  necessity. 
A  mystic  sense  of  absorption  in  universal  being  is  con- 
ceivable, and  sonjie  say  attainable  ;  but,  even  then,  one 
cannot  wholly  escape  from  distinct  personal  conscious- 
ness. The  very  idea  of  such  absorption  involves,  how- 
ever formulated,  that  of  the  person  absorbed  ;  and  this 
vitiates  such  mysticism  wholly :  for  the  faintest  notion 
that  it  is  "  I "  who  am  absorbed,  sets  the  person  outside 
the  all-including  ocean  of  existence  ;  and  shows  that  this 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.        29 

"All "  does  not  and  cannot  include,  so  as  to  destroy,  dis- 
tinctive, personal  identity.  All,  indeed,  includes  every 
part ;  but  every  part,  from  tlie  very  fact  tliat  it  is  a  part, 
is  distinguishable  amid  The  All. 

Follow  as  Tve  may,  in  any  direction,  the  idea  of  distinc- 
tive, individual  identity,  and  all  the  way  will  go  with  us, 
or  rather  hold  on,  into  and  through  us,  the  inevitable, 
pervading  reality  of  personal  consciousness.  Even  that 
old,  yet  ever  reviving  philosophy — that  in  one  form  or 
other,  in  every  thinking  age,  has  produced  some  theory 
of  the  origin  and  development  of  life — never  fails  to  make 
the  same  assumption  with  which  The  Creed  begins.  Phi- 
losophy assumes  indeed  to  speak  to  men  at  large,  but  its 
address  is  primarily  to  individuals.  It  asserts,  dogmatizes, 
and  reasons  ;  but  presents  all  it  has  to  say  to  distinctly 
individual  minds.  A  late,  yet  prominent,  but  no  longer 
latest  form  of  philosophy  or  "  science  "  follows  the  same 
track.  Altho  it  assumes  the  primary  existence  of 
"  Force  "  from  which  sprang  matter ^  and  thence  the  pro- 
gressive evolutions  of  form  ;  out  of  which  have  blos- 
somed, budded,  and  fruited  the  innumerable  varieties  of 
living  and  unliving  entities ;  yet,  even  the  "  Science  of 
Evolution "  is  addressed  to  individual,  human  minds. 
It  appeals  to  humanity,  or  rather  to  the  common  thought 
of  man,  but  speaks  directly  to  the  conscious  person  ; 
even  while  attempting  to  convince  him  that  he  has  no 
personal  consciousness.  It  gathers  and  selects  facts,  on 
which  it  frames  theories,  addressed  to  personal  under- 
standing, by  which  it  attempts  to  persuade  the  person  to 
believe  that  he  is  not  person  but  merely  an  ebulKtion  in, 
and  of,  the  vast,  complicated,  oceanic,  seething  All  ;  or 
"force"  as  the  favorite  term  was  of  late  as  "chance" 
was  in  the  last  century,  and  "  energy' "  is  now  becoming. 

It  was  long  ago  written,  "Many  shall  run  to   and 


30       THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

fro,  and  knowledge  sliall  be  increased."  It  is  probably 
well  that  this  should  be.  It  is  certainly  inevitable. 
Every  age  has  had  its  daring  searchers.  They  are  distinc- 
tively classed  as  "Philosophers."  Without  yielding  to 
them  the  character  of  Lovers  of  Wisdom,  there  is  no 
harm  in  allowing  their  designation  to  continue.  It  will 
be  convenient  to  have  a  single  term,  and  that  acceptable 
to  themselves,  by  which  to  designate  that  numerous 
class,  with  many  grades,  which  have  followed,  now  follow, 
and  ever  will  follow  solely  or  at  least  supremely  the  in- 
ventions of  men. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  express  any  opinion  upon  the 
philosophers  as  a  class.  They  profess  no  desire  to  rec- 
ommend their  systems,  by  the  weight  of  their  reputa- 
tions. It  is  therefore  not  pertinent  to  the  upholding  of 
truth,  that  any  should  be  charged  with  opposing  it. 
What  philosophy  says  and  does  is  fairly  open,  and  must 
take  its  chance  in  the  melee  of  thought,  and  word,  and 
action.  Certainly,  its  runnings  to  and  fro  have  increased 
knowledge.  Christianity,  owing  to  its  assaults,  has  lost 
much  dust  and  rust,  and  shone  out  brighter,  richer  and 
larger.  The  faithless  may  fear,  and  the  timid  tremble, 
and  the  half-hearted  waver  ;  as  one  after  another,  and 
age  after  age,  the  runners  to  and  fro,  as  they  gather 
knowledge,  try  over  and  over  again  to  "  shoot  an  arrow  '* 
into  or  "  cast  a  bank  against"  the  citadel  of  truth  :  but 
whoever  possesses  his  soul  in  patience,  has  only  to  wait, 
giving  meanwhile  "  an  answer  to  eveiy  man  that  asketh 
you  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  you,  with  meekness 
and  fear."     1  S.  Pet.  III.  15. 

Although  one,  loyal  to  The  Truth,  need  not  always 
feel  obliged  to  answer  the  particular  form  of  opposition, 
that  is  current  in  his  time  ;  yet  the  aspect  of  truth, 
which  he  himself  presents,  should  be  suited  to  his  time. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        3i 

It  has  been  often  observed,  that  the  real,  fairly  shown 
and  set  forth,  demonstrates  by  its  own  standing  the  fal- 
sity of  the  unreal.  Truth  is  not  essentially  dependent 
upon  error.  It  stands  on  its  own  reality.  Hence  a 
direct  and  rather  short  way  hes  before  those,  who  aim 
simply  at  setting  truth  forth.  The  truth  of  The  Creed, 
once  shown,  stands  fast.  From  time  to  time  its  relations 
to  prevalent  opinions,  and  courses  of  thought,  and  modes 
of  expression,  should  be  shown  ;  but  this  necessitates 
only  the  outbringing  into  light  of  such  portions,  as  the 
mind  of  the  age  presently  needs  to  know,  and  its  con- 
science should  peculiai'ly  feeL 

Returning  therefore  to  the  primary  condition  of  all 
knowledge,  to  the  ground  of  aU  obhgation,  and  to  the 
foundation  of  both  fear  and  hope,  the  appeal  is  confidently 
made  to  wise  and  ignorant  alike,  for  confirmation  of  the 
facts  of  personal  identity,  and  of  humanity's  common 
reciprocal  unity.  It  has  been  remarked  that  every  man's 
consciousness  says  purely,  and  without  induction,  singly 
"I."  This,  the  simplest  persons  and  the  wisest  perceive, 
in  like  manner.  The  first  cannot  conceive  a  doubt  of 
personal  identity  ;  and  the  last  cannot  frame  an  argument 
against  it,  which  does  not  assume  its  existence  in  the 
very  form  of  the  argument,  and  thus  contradict  itself 
and  stultify  its  author.  However  contemplation  turns 
inward  and  dreams,  or  observation  goes  forth  amid  dis- 
crepancies, and  mysticism  utters  dark  oracles,  the  con- 
scious "I"  remains,  undrowned  in  chaos,  unburied  in 
clouds.  Nor  is  this  occasional,  but  constant  and  "  com- 
mon to  man." 

Probably  the  first,  formed  thought  which  enters  and 
awakes  to  activity  the  mind  of  every  infant,  is  the 
perception  of  its  own  distinctiveness  among  other  exist- 
ences.    Before  birth  and  some  little  time  after,  the  babe 


32        THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

approaclies  "  pHlosophic  perfection "  as  nearly  as  any 
human  being  ever  can.  It  is  alive  but  troubled  by 
neither  thought,  nor  will.  Its  energy  is  spontaneous. 
As  part  of  whole-humanity,  it  lives  seemingly  absorbed. 
It  sees  without  perceiving,  it  hears  without  distingmisli- 
ing,  it  feels  without  thought  of  cause,  and  acts  without 
notion  of  effect.  It  is  more  than  nothing.  It  exists. 
Like  a  germ,  if  it  can  be  destroyed,  it  ceases  to  gi'ow ; 
but,  growing,  it  develops  according  to  the  law  of  its 
class.  Growing  in  this  world,  it  develops  in  mortal 
humanity.  Transplanted  to  another  world,  it  would 
doubtless  develop  there,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of 
humanity  ;  modified  by  the  substances  assimilated  dur- 
ing its  growth  in  that  other  world,  and  influenced  in 
character  by  its  surroundings. 

In  this  world  however,  the  living-babe,  early,  at  one 
marked  moment,  looks  out  and  in  at  once.  Its  eyes  be- 
hold with  wonder  persons  and  tilings,  while  thought 
distinguishes  them  from  self.  That  operation  proceeds 
BO  clearly,  that  speech  is  not  necessary  to  disclose  it. 
To  lookers  on,  the  babe's  eye  first  expresses  wonder, 
which,  in  language  clear  as  speech,  says,  "See"!  In- 
stantly afterwards  follows  another  expression,  which  is 
only  inward,  and  expresses  the  dawning  of  conscious- 
ness. This,  in  the  same  language  completes  the  sen- 
tence, saying  "I  see."  This  distinctive,  personal  con- 
sciousness, thus  manifested  to  observers,  and  common  to 
both  the  I  and  the  We,  when  once  awakened,  never 
ceases  to  live  and  act.  It  goes  on  from  the  first  distinc- 
tion between  self  and  the  outer  world  ;  through  all  the 
innumerably  varied  courses  of  education,  and  character  ; 
building,  until  mortal  life  closes.  Thenceforward  we 
know  not  perfectly  how  it  advances,  nor  how  far  ;  nor 
need  we  now  consider,  yet  through  all  mortal  hfe  every 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       33 

human  creature,  once  having  attained  it,  never  loses  the 
sense  and  assurance  of  personal  identity.  He  cannot 
reabsorb  himself  into  unconscious  humanity.  He  must 
stand  and  generally  only  wishes  to  stand,  in  fact  cannot 
help  standing,  amid  all  simplicities  or  subtleties  of 
thought,  amid  aU  ordinary  or  extraordinary  events, 
knowing,  feeling  and  showing  that  he  is  a  person,  dis- 
tinct amid  persons,  and  another  than  all  other  things. 

This  personal  consciousness  continues  the  same.  The 
man  and  the  babe,  whatever  betide  in  age's  progress,  is 
and  knows  himself  the  same  "I."  He  learns  many 
things,  and  changes  indescribably  but  he  is  ever  one. 
Nor  does  the  future  promise  or  hint  any  essential  alter- 
ation. What  the  future  may  have  in  store  for  him,  he 
cares  for  as  it  may  affect  him  personally.  He  has  no 
conception  of  abstraction  into  a  generality,  nor  of  ab- 
sorption into  a  whole.  It  is  he  himself  that  has  lived, 
now  lives,  and  expects  to  hve,  ever  one  and  the  same 
person.  However  enlarged  or  deteriorated,  however 
happy  or  miserable  he  may  be ;  yet  it  is  of  himself — in 
complete,  yet  single  identity — that  he  conceives ;  while 
he  conceives  of  eveiything  else,  as  distinct  from  himself, 
however  it  may  affect  him  for  good  or  iU. 

H.  What  he  is  primarily  or  essentially,  the  like  he 
spontaneously  ascribes  to  every  and  all  other  human 
creatures.  He  assumes  in  all  his  thoughts  their  distinc- 
tive identity,  and  personal  consciousness.  He  addresses 
them,  and  deals  with  them  as  such.  He  acts  and  re- 
acts upon  them,  unconsciously  no  doubt  in  many  ways  ; 
but,  when*  conscious,  he  recognizes  their  distinctiveness 
from  himself.  A  wonderful  likeness  however  is  equally 
apparent ;  in  fact,  more  than  likeness.  We  breathe  one 
air,  Hve  by  one  sunshine,  are  parts  of  one  another.  What- 
ever touches  one,  through  one  affects  all.  Essentially, 
3* 


34       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

humanity  is  one,  not  only  alike  but  united.  The  problem 
of  human  life  involves  harmonizing  all  men,  without  tyran- 
nizing over  any  man.  The  struggle  of  the  individual 
for  recognition  of  his  rights,  is  none  the  less  important 
than  the  willing  union  of  all  for  the  good  of  the  whole. 
Human  perfection  is  the  harmony  of  all  men  with  every 
man.  It  is  impossible  to  represent  perfection  without  har- 
mony. Harmony  is  simply  the  active  unison  of  many  in 
all.  What  is  best  for  individuals  is  best  for  all.  "What  is 
good  upon  the  whole,  must  be  finally  good  for  every  person. 

The  natural  argument  for  this  point  rests  upon  the 
general  conviction  of  the  possible  perfection  of  every 
existence.  Nothing  can  possibly  be  intended  to  dwell 
in  everlasting  confusion.  Unharmonious  elements  must 
cease  to  be.  Humanity  is  now  confused  and  therefore 
imperfect.  W^hen  perfect  what  remains  of  it  will  be  free 
from  confusion  :  i.  e.  all  men  and  every  man  will  be- 
come harmonized.  Every  one  will  live  for  all,  and  all 
will  support,  guard,  comfort  and  keep  every  one ;  or 
rather  one  and  all  will  ever  respond  reciprocally  through 
living  organic  unity  ;  both,  consciously  and  uncon- 
sciously, being  and  doing  mutual  good. 

Therefore  The  Creed,  being  designed  for  all  men  and 
for  every  man,  takes  no  note  of  the  detailed  stiniggles  of 
civilization  towards  solving  practically  the  hard  problem 
of  human  life.  It  notices  its  two  great  currents,  how- 
ever. In  the  East  it  begins  with  "  We,"  thus  recogniz- 
ing the  fact,  which  underlies  the  progress  of  all  Eastern 
civilization,  that  humanity  is  so  one,  that  polities  and 
social  organizations  should  exercise  governance  over 
persons.  In  the  West  however,  it  begins  with  "I,"  thus 
recognizing  the  old,  persistent  and  never  to  cease,  efforts 
of  man  as  man  to  attain  personal  rights,  and  assure  free 
scope  for  full  individual  development. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        35 

The  consciousness  of  individuals,  which,  to  them,  is 
the  foundation  of  knowledge  and  belief,  is  the  same 
essentially  in  every  person  or  in  all  humanity.  AVhen- 
ever  its  details  coincide,  human  consciousness  is  so  far 
in  unison.  Whatever  details  of  human  consciousness 
agree  together,  become  by  that  agreement  axioms  :  they 
carry  their  own  evidence,  are  not  susceptible  of  proof 
and  become  authoritative  upon  their  mere  statement. 
If  any  one  presumes  to  deny  them,  he  cannot  be  argued 
with :  he  must  be  left  to  take  the  consequences  of  his 
denial,  whenever  and  however  truth  shall  vindicate 
itself. 

The  common  human  consciousness  of  personal  iden- 
tity, though  single  and  complete,  is  also  comprehensive. 
When  one  says  "I,"  although  he  conceives  an  indivisible, 
or  rather  inseparable,  single  entity ;  he  is  at  the  same 
time  aware  of  parts,  which  combine  in  this  single  entity, 
Keflection  discovers  a  threefold  constitution  in  every 
person.  The  source  and  origin  of  this  discovery  need 
not  now  be  elaborately  searched  out.  Whether  it  came 
naturally  or  supernaturally,  if  it  can  be  shown  that  every 
person  manifests  it,  that  will  prove  its  commonness  to 
humanity.  This  threefoidness  comprises  body,  soul,  and 
spirit. 

The  senses  take  cognizance  of  body.  Every  human 
person  knows  that  he  has  one  body.  All  he  may  learn, 
through  science  or  history,  cannot  disjDel  his  assurance 
that  his  body  is  essentially  one  and  the  same  from  in- 
fancy to  old  age.  Though,  in  common  with  all  other 
mortal,  living  organisms,  the  human  body  takes  and 
gives,  thus  changing  constantly  its  particles  of  matter ; 
yet  through  all  changes  it  preserves  its  identity",  continu- 
ing according  to  its  own  type  and  character.  It  is  always 
an   inseparable   unit       Every  man   sajs    "My   body." 


so  THE  CEEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGnT. 

Sick  or  well,  paralyzed  or  Yigorous,  whole  or  mutilated, 
the  division  of  bodily  identity  is  never  conceived  of.  It 
is  only  known  as  one.  All  that  it  may  have  lost  or  cast 
away  has  simply  gone  back,  from  the  bodily  unit  into 
the  mass  of  matter,  whence  it  was  taken  for  the  body's 
uses. 

Yet  the  possessive  "My,"  when  joined  to  body,  shows 
that  unity  of  body  is  not  the  completeness  of  personal 
unity.  Man  is  something  more  than  body.  He  has  at 
least  intelligence,  affection  and  will.  Like  vegetables  he 
has  a  body  which  takes  up  matter,  uses  it  and  casts  it 
off.  But  like  animals  also  he  thinks,  reasons,  feels  and 
decides.  All  these  are  processes,  which  tbe  senses  do  not 
perceive.  When  they  come  forth  into  action,  the  body 
being  their  instrument,  then  the  senses  note  their  effects. 
In  themselves  however  they  underlie  the  senses,  and  hence 
in  worth  and  dignity  excel  matter. 

Thus  far  we  have  set  forth  without  argument  the  com- 
mon human  consciousness,  or  rather  sense  of  bodily  and 
psychical  existence. 

Some  philosophers  not  long  ago  attempted  to  persuade 
mankind  that  matter  secreted  thought,  emotion  and  will. 
Because,  forsooth,  they  discovered  that  certain  peculiar 
movements  of  molecules  in  the  brain  accompanied  the 
action  of  thought,  emotion  and  will,  they  argued  that  the 
former  was  the  cause  of  the  latter.  All  tests,  that  we 
are  capable  of  making  openly,  show  that  the  body  obeys, 
and  does  not  command.  A  man  thinks,  desires,  and 
wills.  The  body  receives  his  mandates,  and  executes 
them.  He  moves,  speaks  and  rests  when  he  will,  within 
the  limits  of  his  bounded  capacities  and  opportimities. 
The  body  may  oppose  its  appetites  or  its  inertia  against 
action,  but  it  evidently  can  neither  originate  nor  prevent 
the  spontaneous  uprising*  of  the  mandates  of  the  wilL 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        37 

Their  source  is  consciously  somewhere  beneath  matter, 
and  their  Hmit  is  the  bound  of  personal  power. 

It  must  be  allowed  that  this  is  controverted  by  both 
analytical  and  synthetical  biologists.  The  first  have  made 
minute,  microscopic  examinations  of  nervous  tissues. 
They  say  they  have  found  distinct  nervous  fibres  only 
thousandths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  made  up  in  bundles 
together,  running  out  from  the  brain  and  spinal  column, 
and  thence  diverging  to  the  various  inside  and  outside 
parts  of  the  human  organism.  (Bain.)  With  proud 
humility  they  declare  their  belief  that  they  know  as  yet 
very  httle  of  the  divisions  of  the  human  nervous  system. 
If  to-day  the  microscope  has  revealed  such  attenuated 
nerve  threads,  who  knows  but  some  day  some  microscopic 
instrument  will  subdi\ide  these  threads  infinitesimally  ; 
and  show  them  to  be  bundles  pf  yet  more  attenuated 
threads — say  milHonths  of  an  inch  in  diameter — and  then 
what  is  to  prevent  the  appearance  of  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  separate  strings  in  this  great  human  organization, 
to  answer  to  every  possible  single  note  of  thought  or 
feeling  by  single  vibrations,  and  by  their  combinations 
to  every  possible  conjunction  of  ideas. 

Who  knows  ? 

All  that  these  analytical  biologists  show  by  their 
searching,  and  positively  prove,  is  that  the  human  mech- 
anism is  wonderfully  complicated.  They  have  not  ad- 
vanced a  point's  breadth,  towards  demonstrating  that 
life  is  a  function  of  matter.  The  utmost  they  show  is 
that  when  sensation  leads  to  thought  and  will,  or  when 
thought  calls  out  will  and  proceeds  to  action,  there  are 
certain  known  courses  pursued  through  the  comphcated 
order  and  relations  of  the  nerves,  and  spinal  marrow  and 
brain.  They  have  never  yet  seen  this  subtle  essence  of 
life.    They  have  not  even  drawn  it  off,  and  stored  it  as 


38       THE  CEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

they  can  electricity  in  a  jar.  They  cannot  recharge  a 
dead  body  with  it.  They  cannot  force  it  to  remain,  when 
it  is  departing.  It  has  no  characteristics  hke  the  quali- 
ties and  functions  of  matter.  It  uses  indeed  the  human 
organism,  through  waking  and  sleeping,  and  does  not 
manifest  itself  on  earth  except  through  organisms  ;  but 
the  most  complex  and  delicate  constructive  ingenuity  of 
man  has  never  attained  the  production  of  a  living  or- 
ganite.  The  line  is  as  marked  now  as  ever  between 
form  and  life.  We  can  imitate  any  form,  but  only  life 
vitalizes. 

This  intangible  life  is  in  and  with  the  person,  the 
unit,  indivisible  I.  The  I  wills,  and  knows  it  wills. 
One  cannot  apprehend  an  idea  of  a  will  composed  of 
matter ;  as  he  cannot  that  of  personality  made  up  of 
compounded  elements.  The  two — the  j)erson  and  his 
will— are  inseparable  ;  yet  distinguishable,  like  potenti- 
ality from  potency  or  like  being  from  a  function  of  being. 
Every  person  is  primarily  conscious  of  his  own  power  to 
will ;  and  knows  that  his  life,  or  living  force,  is  the  en- 
ergy through  which  he  wills.  The  utmost  dissection  of 
the  nerve  system  can  only  display  the  delicacy  and  com- 
pHcation  of  the  machinery.  The  motive  power  is  not  the 
machinery ;  nor  does  machinery  ever  evolve  power,  it 
only  changes  its  form  or  direction. 

The  Synthetical  Biologists  have  experimented  with 
animals,  and  made  observations  of  anomalous  human 
subjects,  which  shake  much  of  the  old  simple  construc- 
tion of  psychological  argumentation.  The  brain  has 
hitherto  been  a  comfortable  place  of  lodgment  for  psy- 
chologists. There  they  seated  the  soul,  as  in  a  centre, 
and  replied  successfully  to  the  analysts,  that  however 
they  dissected  nervous  fibres,  or  resolved  into  sej^arate 
constituents  nervous  substance,  the  result  was  only  the 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        39 

unveiling  of  a  better  instrument  for  tlie  soul  to  play 
upon. 

The  great  majority  of  the  physiologists  have  accorded 
■with  the  psychologists,  to  the  extent  of  centering  life  in 
the  brain.  They  have  been  disturbed  however  by  cer- 
tain facts  discovered  by  vivisection.  On  severing  the 
spinal  cord  it  has  been  found  that  the  parts,  thus  sej)- 
arated  from  the  brain,  respond  to  irritation.  The  com- 
mon explanation  is,  that  there  is  a  "reflex  action  " ;  by 
which  nerves  of  voluntary  motion  respond  to  nerves  of 
sensation,  without  communication  vith  the  brain.  Thus 
a  sea  turtle  with  an  inch  taken  out  of  its  spinal  cord, 
would  move  its  members  as  if  to  escape  annoyance  from 
irritation  applied  to  sensitive  j)arts.  This  theory  of 
"  reflex  action  "  is  evidently  an  expedient  to  escape  a 
great  difficulty.  It  still  leaves  such  operations  as  selec- 
tion and  judgment  for  the  brain.  Some  late  vivisections 
however,  show  that  will-nerves,  below  the  severed  point 
in  the  spinal  cord,  not  only  respond  to  irritated  sensory 
nerves  in  the  shortest  way,  or  through  the  lines  of  least 
resistance  ;  but  that  when  this  response  is  impeded  other 
efforts  are  made  to  remove  the  irritation.  Thus  a  frog, 
with  severed  spinal  cord,  while  he  would  use  his  nearest 
foot  to  rub  a  burnt  place  would,  if  that  were  removed, 
resort  after  failure  to  his  other  foot.  In  this  case  there 
was  evidently,  trial,  failure,  and  then  trial  of  another 
expedient.  These  evidently  involved  sensation,  reflec- 
tion, judgment,  choice  and  will.  Here  is  life  evidently 
operating  psychically,  even  when  the  brain — the  supposed 
seat  of  the  psyche  or  soul — is  shut  off.  In  the  case  of  a 
man  also,  whose  spinal  cord  was  so  injured  that  he  had 
no  conscious  sensation  in  his  lower  limbs,  the  limb 
would  respond  to  a  pin-prick  as  it  would  in  full  health. 
These  may  be  acknowledged  and  accepted  as  facts.     It 


40  THE    CREED    AND    MODEKN    THOUGHT. 

is  for  scientific  men  to  test  tliem.  They  may  contend 
longer  for  their  favorite  reflex  theory,  if  they  please.  It 
matters  nothing  to  Christianity  whether  the  physico- 
psychologists  who  have  set  the  central  seat  of  the  soul 
in  the  brain,  are  driven  from  their  ground  or  not.  All 
Christianity  asserts  is  individual  soul-existence.  It  does 
not  locate  it,  nor  define  its  relation  to  body.  Such  a 
soul  as  Christianity  contemplates  can  pass  across  a  sev- 
ered spinal  cord,  though  persons  may  be  as  unconscious 
of  its  operations  in  this  passage,  as  they  are  of  its  oper- 
ations in  sleep.  Wl^^it  are  called  spontaneous  reactions 
are  well  enough  known  in  the  healthy  body,  and  as  they 
do  not  disturb  the  stability  of  soul-facts,  neither  need 
Buch  reactions  in  an  abnormal  condition. 

The  design  of  the  Synthethical  Biologists  evidently  is 
to  destroy  aU  belief  in  soul,  as  an  entity  distinct  from 
matter.  They  argue  that  such  facts  as  they  have  given, 
prove  that  characteristics  of  soul  appear  always  where 
nerve  action  occurs ;  and,  as  the  individual  is  uncon- 
scious, therefore  his  soul  is  either  divided  in  tw^o  by  a 
physical  cause,  or  the  operations  are  purely  and  wholly 
physical. 

The  obvious  answer  is  that  consciousness  arising  from 
sensation — i.  e.  sensory  consciousness — has  been  long 
known  as  producing  spontaneous  motor-nerve  response 
without  at  all  impairing  the  evidence  of  the  existence 
and  unity  of  the  soul.  Nothing  new  arises  from  these 
experiments.  They  disturb  indeed  the  theories  of  those 
who  locate  soul  in  the  brain.  Christianity  is  only  inter- 
ested in  keeping  soul  in  the  man.  As  it  neither  defines 
nor  locates  soul,  the  mysteries  of  sleep,  and  the  perplex- 
ities of  the  vivisectionists,  or  even  the  great  unconscious- 
ness of  death  itself,  do  not  disturb  its  serenity,  nor 
threaten  its  consistency. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       41 

The  common  human  consciousness  stands  firmly 
therefore  upon  the  fact  of  the  existence,  in  every  person 
and  in  all  mankind,  of  a  something  distinct  from  and 
beneath — i.  e.  substanding — matter  in  whatever  bodily 
forms  appearing. 

This  something  beneath  matter,  wherein  and  whereby 
these  operations  exist,  is  commonly  called  the  soul.  The 
body  is  manifested  in  material  substance,  and  we  only 
sensibly  perceive  body  through  its  substance.  As  we 
have  no  senses,  subtle  enough  to  discern  immaterial 
substance,  we  cannot  speak  with  assurance  of  the  sub- 
stance of  the  soul.  It  evidently  feeds  and  gTows,  and 
we  may  therefore  argue  that  there  is  psychical  substance 
— not  matter — on  which  it  feeds,  and  whence  it  draws 
renewal  to  its  functions  of  thought,  affection  and  will. 

This  consciousness  of  soul  we  share  with  every  hu- 
man creature  that  lives,  or  ever  has  lived.  Degrees  and 
vai'ieties  of  it  reach  fi-om  the  lowest  type  of  the  savage, 
through  all  grades  of  civilization,  up  to  the  highest, 
knowTi  personal  and  social  developments.  Moreover  we 
cannot  conceive  of  a  human  being  without  it.  If  below 
it,  he  would  cease  to  be  human  ;  and,  if  above  it,  he  would 
be  more  than  human. 

Beasts  how^ever  are  evidently  not  without  thought, 
affection  and  will.  They  accumulate  knowledge,  dis- 
criminate between  persons  and  things,  feel  love,  hatred 
and  indifference,  and  act  according  to  individual  and 
independent  will.     Have  beasts  souls  ? 

Some  have  called  the  vital  energy  of  vegetables,  by 
which  each  selects  its  proper  nutriment,  evolves  its  dis- 
tinctive form,  and  brings  forth  its  own  products,  the 
vegetable  soul.  Others  confine  the  designation  to  crea- 
tures who  have  evident  consciousness  of  individuality.  It 
is  hard  to  decide  such  a  dispute.     There  is  no  objection, 


4:2  THE   CREED   AND    MODERN   THOrGIIT. 

as  far  as  Christianity  is  concerned,  to  belief  in  tlie  vege- 
table soul,  though  d  fortiori  such  concession  would  in- 
volve the  conclusion  that  beasts  have  souls.  The  ques- 
tion is  only  one  of  definitions,  so  long  as  the  proper  dis- 
tinction between  soul  and  spirit  is  preserved. 

The  immortality  of  the  soul  of  vegetables,  and  animals 
does  not  present  any  difficulties  to  Christianity.  Indeed, 
the  allowance  of  that  belief  rather  clears  the  path  of 
Christianity.  For  while  we  may  not  be  able  to  prove  the 
existence  of  veritable  soul-substance,  its  possibility  is 
undoubted.  Indeed  every  thinking  age  has  produced, 
through  its  philosophy,  views  that  rest  upon  the  idea  of  an 
existing,  vast  soul-substance  ;  surrounding  the  material 
universe  to  keep  it  in  order,  and  pei'vading  it  to  de- 
velop its  various  forms  of  life.  It  is  true  that  this  per- 
vading power  of  vitality  has  been  called  The  Supreme,  and 
has  been  j)ut  in  the  place  of  God.  "  The  Soul  of  the 
Universe"  was  its  old  name.  Not  long  ago  it  was 
"  Force."  Now  perhaps  "  Permanent  Possibility  "  is  its 
latest  appellation.  Belief  in  its  existence  is  not  necessarily 
faulty.  The  error  and  danger  lie  in  that  narrowness  of 
thought,  reflection  and  observation,  which  sees  in  this 
ground  and  room  enough  for  all  the  facts  of  humanity. 

Vegetables  and  beasts  and  men  alike,  as  they  evidently 
take  the  matter  of  their  bodies  from  earthly'  material, 
may,  for  aught  we  know,  take  soul- substance  from  the 
"Soul  of  the  Universe."  Death  resolves  vegetable  and 
animal  bodies  into  incoherent  matter,  and  they  are  lost 
in  the  mass.  Their  souls  may  in  manner  not  wholly  un- 
like, be  resolved,  and  lost  at  death  in  some  inconceivably 
vast  ocean  of  vitality. 

Wherein  is  man  better  than  the  beast  ? 

We  must  retui*n  again  to  the  common  human  con- 
sciousness.   While  every  human  person  is  conscious  of 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       43 

having  all  that  belongs  essentially  to  both  vegetables  and 
animals,  he  is  assured  that  in  every  specific  likeness  he  is 
sui^erior  to  them.  In  beauty  of  form  and  versatility  of 
feature  and  member,  the  human  is  no  less  pre-eminent, 
than  in  grasj)  and  subtlety  of  intellect.  Imagination  so 
excels  in  man,  that  it  is  hardly  recognizable  the  same 
vrith  that  tremulous  fancy,  which  seems  productive  in 
beasts  of  little  more  than  fearful  starts,  and  groundless 
dread.  The  emotions  and  j^assions,  though  wonderfully 
ahke  in  causes  and  operations,  are,  through  natural 
guards  and  limitations,  productive  of  much  good  and 
little  harm  to  beasts  ;  while  to  men  they  are  constant 
sources  of  great  danger.  Indeed  in  every  particular  of 
resemblance,  wherein  beasts  are  comparatively  safe,  men 
are  peculiarly  liable  to  error,  and  wrong  and  hurt. 

If  man  were  simply  an  advanced  vegetable,  or  a  supe- 
rior animal,  we  should  have  to  lament  his  ascendancy. 
Progress  would  be  retrogression,  of  direst  consequence. 
Shut  in  by  this  inadequate  world,  and  bound  by  the  nar- 
row, possible  attainments  of  this  present  existence,  he 
would  certainly  be  the  worse  for  aspiration.  His  imagi- 
nation is  mere  torture,  if  his  only  sphere  of  existence 
lies  among  the  hard  realities  around  him ;  at  best  it  can 
only  teach  that  the  fanciful  and  unreal  are  better  than 
the  actual ;  while  the  conclusion  lies  not  far  off,  that 
whatever  will  stupefy  his  senses,  and  transport  him  by 
sweet  intoxication  into  serene  self-forgetfulness,  is  alto- 
gether best  for  him.  Observation,  upon  any  other  animal 
faculty,  shows  like  difficulties ;  and  proves  that  man  is 
far  worse  off  than  animals,  and  therefore  lower  than  they, 
unless  some  other  characteristic  belongs  to  him,  that 
compensates  for  his  suffering  and  assures  the  attainment 
and  fulfilment  of  final  self-serenity,  with  harmony  amid 
and  toward  his  surroundings. 


44       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

It  is  said  that  man  is  now  in  a  transitional  state.  Upon 
the  evolution  theory,  he  is  the  most  eminent  among 
instances  of  that  partial  development,  which  seems  at 
present  out  of  place  ;  but  which,  when  fully  evolved,  will 
appear  a  needful  stage  in  the  unfoldings  of  perfection. 
They  who  believe  this  may,  amid  sickness,  and  loss,  and 
unsatisfied  yearnings  of  heart,  and  void  of  soul,  and 
vanity,  take  what  comfort  they  can,  from  considering  that 
after  they  have  become  disintegrated,  the  "force  or 
energy  "  by  which  they  are  constmcted,  will  make  anew 
some  other  creature,  who  shall  stand  higher  than  man, 
on  a  broader  plane  of  advancement. 

"  I "  and  "  we  "  agree  that  man  mortal  is  transitional : 
but,  clinging  to  the  assurance  of  personal  identity,  I  and 
We  know  and  are  assured  of  something  within,  lying 
deeper  than  the  animal  soul  wherein  that  identity's  es- 
sence exists  or  at  least  centres;  Language  names  it 
"  spirit."  It  is,  ever  single  in  its  action,  and  yet  so  com- 
prehensive that  it  includes  every  particular  of  body  and 
soul.  It  includes,  but  neither  absorbs,  digests  nor  assim- 
ilates them.  It  has  exclusive  functions  also.  Using  sense 
as  well  as  reason  and  imagination  as  stepping-stones, 
and  making  even  the  will  its  helper ;  it  stands  under,  in, 
through  and  over  them,  all  and  every  one,  and  thence 
looks  out  and  upward.  Eeason  demands  a  First  Cause. 
Affection  requires  a  person,  loving,  deep  and  full,  that  it 
may  pour  out  itself  wholly,  and  find  response  for  all  the 
heart's  yearnings  ;  while  back  into  itself  shall  reflow  a 
river  of  sympathy  that  may  refill  its  own  unfathomable 
depth  of  loving  receptivity.  Will,  demands, — not  inde- 
pendence, which  would  be  folly  in  one  consciously  self- 
insufficient — but  free  accord  with  higher  will,  by  which 
it  shall  choose  the  higher,  not  by  constraint  but  sponta- 
neously, as  the  right,  the  good  and  the  true,     The  Spirit 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.       45 

of  man,  while  distinct  in  the  man,  is  inseparable  from  him. 
It  is  separable  in  idea  from  both  body  and  soul,  and 
conceivably  separable  in  fact.  It  is  distinct,  like  a  central 
vital  point  in  the  entity  of  person.  It  may  have  its  own 
consciousness,  apart  from  material  sensation.  It  however 
pervades  the  whole  body,  and  is  capable  of  perceiving 
and  being  moved  by  bodily  reactions.  It  impels  the 
body  ;  but  it  may  also  be  impelled,  so  as  to  take  on  char- 
acter and  incur  destinies,  through  its  willing  communion 
with  the  body.  It  pervades  also  the  soul  and  is  capable 
of  reactions  from  the  understanding,  affections  and  will. 
Operating  in  the  soul,  it  may  exalt  the  soul's  faculties 
and  enlarge  its  functions.  Operating  through  the  soul, 
it  may  ennoble  and  purify  the  desires,  aj)petites  and 
passions  of  the  body.  Keacted  upon  by  the  soul,  it  may 
be  affected  in  its  character  by  the  soul's  characteristics. 
This  spirit,  being  human  and  a  constituent  in  the  sub- 
stantially tripartite  but  identically  one  person  of  eveiy 
man,  while  giving  and  receiving,  is  yet  so  united,  to  the 
man,  that  his  character  is  its  character,  while  one  joint 
final  destiny  impends  over  the  whole. 

It  is  conceivable  that  the  spirit  may  temporarily  leave 
the  body.  We  know  not,  or  at  least  not  fully  and  clearly, 
what  it  may  be  without  the  body.  Nor  do  we  know 
what  may  be  the  permanency  of  its  relation  to  that 
measure  of  the  soul-substance  of  the  universe,  out  of 
which  the  individual  man's  soul  may  be  taken.  All  we 
are  commonly  and  irrepressibly  convinced  of  is,  that 
personal  identity  is  indestructible,  and  that  the  spirit, 
being  the  centre  of  person,  must  be  the  supreme  seat  of 
this  identity. 

In  a  certain  sense  the  human  spirit  is  the  man,  inas- 
much as  it  is  the  central  seat  of  personaHty.  Tripartite 
though  our  consciousness  reveals  us  it  no  less  positively 


46       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

asserts  the  unity  of  self.  Common  consciousness  dis- 
plays not  a  confused  agglomeration  of  divisible  human 
units  of  personality  ;  we  are  not  independent  one  of  an- 
other, but  rather  so  organized  together,  that  humanity 
at  large  has  coincident  interest  with  every  human  crea- 
ture. Whatever  is  essential  in  one,  is  not  only  like  the 
essential  in  another,  but  so  united  to  it  that  both  inter- 
ests and  hopes  are  one.  The  spirit  of  every  man  responds 
to  the  spirit  of  humanity.  In  countless  voices,  on  all 
subjects  in  common,  this  response  opens  interchangeably 
with  "I"  and  "We."  The  single  person  and  the  aggre- 
gate or  rather  union  of  persons,  are  associated  as  parts 
of  one  organization.  It  is  however  an  organization  pe- 
culiar and  unique.  Its  constituent  persons  are  not  sub- 
ject parts,  but  they  have  individual  powers  and  wills ; 
by  which  they  may  either  accord  with  the  organization 
in  all  its  right  and  wholesome  operations,  or  through 
which  introduce  discord.  The  best  good  of  aU,  however, 
assures  the  best  good  of  every  one.  Hence,  in  truth 
and  goodness  and  beauty,  the  interests  and  healthfully 
responsive  action  of  "  I "  and  "  We,"  of  every  person  and 
all  humanity,  coincide.  Body,  soul  and  spirit,  in  the 
unit  and  in  the  whole,  are  like  in  reciprocal  relations, 
concurrent  in  operations,  distinct  personally  yet  common 
in  origin  and  destiny. 

m.  Hence  follows  the  unity  of  truth,  involving  its 
absolute  self-existence,  self-preservation  and  immortal 
consistency.  Our  consciousness,  which  is  the  basis  of 
all  assurance  ;  and  the  one  ground  of  the  distinctive 
sense  of  personality  with  the  conviction  of  the  organic 
union  of  humanity,  cannot  hold  on  to  the  idea  of  con- 
tingency or  relativity  in  the  essence  of  truth.  There 
may  arise  questions  of  contingency,  wherein  we  may  see 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGITT.        47 

relative  bearings  of  one  fact  upon  another,  with  relative 
operations  of  distinct  j)rinciples  towards  each  other :  but 
we  assume,  and  cannot  help  resting  upon  belief,  that 
there  is  a  best  among  all  possibilities,  and  a  right  beyond 
all  doubts. 

The  alternative  to  all  this  we  can  indeed  hold,  as  an 
idea,  in  the  mind.  We  can  conceive  that  truth  may  be 
not  absolute  but  relative,  not  self-existent  but  a  creation 
of  man's  conception,  not  self-sustaining  but  dependent 
upon  the  will  of  man  for  its  support.  Such  an  idea  in- 
volves the  absurdity  of  man's  supremacy  over,  not  merely 
superiority  in,  the  universe.  Even  from  that  compara- 
tively low  definition,  that  "  Truth  is  what  is,"  follows  the 
consequence  that  the  Universe  is  founded  on  truth. 
Hence,  if  man's  opinion  is  to  him  the  truth,  then  the  uni- 
verse is  subject  to  man's  opinion.  If  what  a  man  thinks 
true,  is  true  to  him,  then  "  all  things  "  must  accord  with 
the  principle  ;  and  whatever  conflict  and  contradiction 
may  exist  between  one  man's  opinion  and  another  or 
between  the  same  man's  opinions  at  different  times,  they 
all  must  be  truth  together.  It  will  not  do,  to  attempt 
to  escape  this  absurdity,  by  changing  ground.  It  will 
not  suffice  to  say,  that  all  these  confusions  will  be  finally 
adjusted  in  one  grand  consonance  of  truth ;  for  this  is 
simply  a  confession  of  truth's  absoluteness,  which  is  the 
whole  point  in  controversy.  Herein  appears  another 
common  human  assurance  and  testimony  to  the  fact,  that 
however  we  may  wander  in  mazes  of  fancy,  distilled 
from  the  overboiling  of  distorted  wishes  and  self-indul- 
gent wills,  we  cannot  persuade  ourselves  out  of  the 
axiom,  or  basis  of  thought,  that  truth  is,  at  least,  a 
reality  and  power  existing  absolutely  in  itself  and  of 
itself,  everywhere,  now  and  forever. 

We  cannot  however  stop  at  this  view  of  truth.     Phi- 


48       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGnT. 

losophy  indeed,  in  all  ages,  lias  attempted  thus  to  stop  ; 
and  it  has  discoursed  so  long  and  confidently  about  "  ab- 
stract truth,"  that  even  common  men  are  beginning  to 
think  that  there  is  such  a  thing.  Indeed,  a  Princeton 
professor.  Dr.  Shields,  in  his  late  book  entitled  "The 
Final  Philosophy,"  which  comes  as  a  sort  of  manifesto 
from  one  of  the  most  distinguished  seats  of  learning  in 
America,  first  copiously  analyzes  and  discusses  the  whole 
history  of  philosophy,  then  enthusiastically  sets  forth  a 
plan,  or  at  least  a  course  of  procedure,  designed  finally 
to  reconcile  science  and  religion.  Assuming  that  the 
truth  of  science  and  the  truth  of  revelation,  are  both  ab- 
stract principles,  or  rather  parts  of  one  common  abstrac- 
tion, he  proposes  to  have  them  both  reconciled  finally, 
when  philosophy  shall  have  discovered  and  formulated 
that  general  abstraction,  which  shall  be  able  to  assimi- 
late all  others,  and  develop  the  one  great  Truth. 

Let  any  plain  but  accurate  thinker,  take  e.  g.  such  evi- 
dent axioms,  as  'Truth  is  an  objective  reality,'  '  It  is  in- 
dependent on  relations,'  and  let  him  draw  the  inevitable 
conclusions  'It  is  power,'  '  It  is  absolutely  self  existent ;' 
and  can  he  hold  these  as  abstract  ideas  ?  A  self-existent, 
almighty,  omnipresent  abstraction  is  the  veriest  dream 
of  mental  inebriation.  It  cannot  be  grasped  by  the  nor- 
mal mind  of  man.  He  can  no  more  think  truth  an  ab- 
straction, than  he  can  think  himself  a  bundle  of  abstrac- 
tions. The  same  d.  priori  concept  of  personality,  which 
holds  him  to  the  unit,  conscious  I,  not  only  suggests  the 
unit  personality  of  truth  ;  but  also  leads  to  the  next  in- 
evitable conclusion,  that  this  unit  personality  of  truth  is 
also  a  unit,  conscious  I. 

When  he  carries  out  this  concept,  among  the  facts  of 
himself  and  the  universe,  he  first  perceives  that  this  per- 
sonality is  the  very  greatest  of  all  manifest  existences. 


THE   CKEED   AND   MODERN   TIIOrGIIT.  49 

Indeed  it  only  now  apprehends,  and  if  perfect  might  com- 
prehend,  all  other  existences.  Matter  and  force  are  un- 
conscious effects  or  unconscious  causes.  Complex  units 
indeed  are  found  in  animal  individuality  of  every  degree  ; 
but  none  like  man's  in  scope,  compass,  capacity,  and  above 
all  in  powers  of  theoretical  and  practical  generahzation. 
In  this  last  particular  man  is  unique  in  the  Universe. 
Not  the  verdure,  nor  the  waters,  nor  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  nor  the  air  are  separately  his  peculiar  domains ; 
but  all  the  world  is  under  him  with  all  its  subtlest  pow- 
ers, while  space  is  open  to  his  ken,  time  to  his  researches, 
reason  to  his  understanding,  and  beauty  to  his  sight  con- 
ception and  imagination.  These  and  many  other  quanti- 
ties, quahties  and  relations  being  subservient  to,  and 
therefore  lower  than  human  personality,  he  argues  that 
the  consistency  which  binds  all  must  be  their  source  as 
well  as  support ;  and  since  a  producer  must  at  least 
equal  its  own  product,  Truth  must  be  also  a  person. 
Truth's  own  personahty  is,  therefore,  a  necessary  conse- 
quence of  man's  personality. 

This  conviction  about  Truth,  fits  everywhere  into, 
and  works  in  concord  with  the  common  assm-ance  of 
human  consciousness,  that  every  person  is  a  distinct 
entity  and  indivisible,  undying  I ;  while  all  mankind  are 
united  so,  that  whatever  is  essential  to  any  person  is  com- 
mon to  all.  Hence  *'  I  "  and  "  We  "  reciprocally  respond 
to  and  support  each  other  ;  while  both  rest  confidently, 
only  upon  One  Truth,  Who  is  Infinite,  Absolute,  Per- 
sonal, All. 

3 


50       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 


3;   lUc  BcUcDc. 

From  the  unit-consciousness  of  the  person  I,  the 
physical  philosophers  attempt  to  search  back  for  the 
first  scintillation  of  life  ;  hoping  to  find  it  under  the  last 
divisible  molecule,  or  in  the  last  indivisible  "atom,"  of 
matter.  Their  utmost  analysis  only  reaches  organiza- 
tions, yet  unresolved  into  primary  organites.  The  re- 
vealing microscope  itself  stops  at  the  verge  of  a  depth 
of  the  infinitesimal,  which  the  eye  of  the  scientist  can- 
not scan.  Man's  incapacity,  to  sound  the  unfathomable 
deep  below  him,  is  thus  manifested.  Here  the  baffled 
mind  stops;  and  takes,  because  it  must  take,  its  choice 
between  blank  nothingness,  or  belief  in  an  existent 
though  unsearchable  First  Cause. 

In  view  of  well  known  forms  of  scepticism,  it  is  per- 
haps necessary,  before  proceeding  further,  to  define  such 
terms  as  Cause,  and  First  Cause.  It  has  been  alleged 
that  we  cannot  comprehend  Cause,  and  much  less  the 
First  Cause.  There  is  no  objection  to  allowing  this. 
It  is  true  that  cause,  like  substance,  is  a  relative  not  an 
absolute  cognition.  We  know  the  one  by  its  effects,  and 
the  other  by  its  accidents,  or  both  by  what  in  a  single 
tenn  may  be  called  phenomena.  Hence  in  this,  as  in 
every  other  matter  of  thought,  it  ought  to  be  fi-eely 
allowed,  that  Man  can  look  only  on  manifestations  not 
into  things  as  they  are.  Kant  uses  a  term  which  may 
be  convenient,  when  commonly  understood.  He  caUs 
"  things  as  they  are "  noumena,  as  distinct  from  phe- 
nomena their  manifestations. 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.        51 

Noumena  can  of  course  only  be  known  to  one  con- 
versant with  the  origin,  sustentation  and  development  of 
things.  All  that  things  have  been,  are  and  can  possibly 
become,  can  be  known  only  by  such  an  One.  In  the 
same  sense,  Causes  can  only  be  known  by  One  Cause  of 
all  causes.  We  do  not  yet  inquii-e  whether  such  an  One 
exists.  We  are  only  showing  a  position  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  man  to  fill.  Whether  or  not  that  position  is 
occupied,  will  come  up  for  future  consideration. 

Although  we  cannot  comprehend  noumena  we  can, 
and  every  man  does,  form  a  concept  of  them.  Things 
as  they  appear  having  been  thoroughly  examined,  the. 
human  mind  invariably  rests  upon  things  as  they  are  ; 
not  indeed  forming  of  them  a  distinct  conception,  but 
laying  hold  of,  or  rather  subsiding  into  a  concept  of 
what  is  not  phenomenon  but  the  real  ground  of  phe- 
nomena. If  any  one  says  that  he  cannot  apprehend  this, 
what  he  really  means  is  only  that  he  cannot  comprehend 
it.  If  he  could  not  apprehend  it,  he  would  never  speak 
of  it.  It  is  one  of  those  things  that  cannot  be  denied. 
The  very  term  itself  is  an  assertion. 

When  we  have  attained  the  idea  of  noumena,  we  have 
travelled  far  down  the  line  of  effects  and  causes.  If  one 
says  that  a  cause  is  simply  an  antecedent,  and  that  all  we 
know  of  cause  is  that  it  is  a  precedent  to  effect ;  the 
answer  obviously  is,  that  not  merely  the  time  but  the 
quality  of  cause  is  always  considered.  It  is  not  enough 
to  make  a  cause  that  it  precede  an  effect.  It  must  also 
exhibit  the  quality  of  power  or  fitness.  Hence  we  de- 
mand that  a  cause  should  be  both  previous  and  adequate 
to  its  effect.  We  lay  hold  of  cause  as  we  lay  hold  of 
noumena,  not  comprehending,  for  only  One  Causer  of  aU 
Causes  can  comprehend,  but  apprehending,  we  cannot 
possibly  deny  cause.     Our  whole  pi*actical  life  is  begun, 


62       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

and  everywhere  interlinked  with  cause.  Oui*  whole 
thought  runs  along  a  chain  of  causes.  Hence  the  denial  of 
cause  is  impossible,  because  cause  is  granted  in  the  basis 
of  its  denial.  Every  attempt  at  denial  is  so  formulated, 
that  belief  in  cause  is  assumed  for  its  very  purpose,  e.  g. 
*  Why  cannot  we  conceive  the  idea  of  cause  ? '  '  Because 
we  are  unable  to  do  so.'  '  O,  then  our  inability  is  the 
cause  of  our  incapacity.'     Cause  to  the  last ! 

A  man  may  say  that  he  will  not  accept  what  he  cannot 
comprehend ;  and  therefore  will  not  acknowledge  the 
force  of  any  argument,  based  upon  the  existence  of  the 
principle  of  causation.  A  great  many  philosophers  take 
this  position.  It  is  however,  not  an  intellectual,  but  a 
moral  ground  on  which  they  stand.  When  they  say 
they  cannot,  they  convict  themselves  by  their  own  words. 
When  they  say  they  will  not,  they  are  no  longer  self-de- 
ceivers, but  only  wilful.  Of  course  no  man  has  a  right 
to  proceed  further  with  them.  They  may  believe  or  dis- 
believe what  they  v/ill.  Others,  however,  may  not  like 
that  position.  Wilful  self-blindness  is  not  thought  safe, 
amid  material  things,  and  the  simple  minded  may  think 
it  is  liable  to  dangers  from  other  than  material  things. 

Now  taking  that  universal  and  inevitable  spontaneous 
concept  of  Cause  and  Effect,  we  find  it  impossible  to  stop 
at  any  definable  point.  We  get  behind  phenomena,  on  to 
the  idea  of  noumena,  and  find  ourselves  still  seeking 
after  cause.  Every  comprehensible  cause  is  itself  effect ; 
and  yet  it  is  inconceivable  that  the  apprehensible  source 
of  causes  can  itself  be  an  effect.  We  rest  therefore  finally, 
on  what  is  called  the  First  Cause,  i.  e.  upon  one  into 
which  all  effects  run,  and  out  from  which  all  causes  pro- 
ceed. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  actual  existence  of  the 
First  Cause  is  not  yet  considered.     The  idea,  or  concept 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT.       53 

alone  is  now  in  view.  It  is  not  only  a  common  but  a 
necessary  human  conception.  Man's  intellect  is  so  con- 
stituted, that  the  innate  idea  of  cause  compels  him  to 
conceive  of  One  First  Cause.  Nor  can  he  escape  this 
conception.  Every  system  of  human  j)tiilosophy  has  a 
germinal  idea,  whence  all  its  developments  spring.  Every 
such  idea  is  only  another  name  for  The  First  Cause.  It 
is  as  impossible  therefore  to  escape  a  Cause  of  all  causes 
in  philosophy  as  it  is  in  religion.  Both  stand  at  last 
alike  upon  an  axiom  of  human  nature,  an  axiom  of  both 
thought  and  life. 

In  this  study  of  The  Creed  in  relation  to  Modem 
Thought,  the  old  term  "The  First  Cause,"  wiU  be 
adhered  to.  If  its  antiquity  is  an  objection  to  some,  it 
will  be  a  recommendation  to  others.  The  thing  meant 
is  exhibited  in  all  philosophy.  It  is  the  centre,  source, 
origin  and  sustainer  of  noumena  and  phenomena,  the 
ground  of  being,  and  the  one  only  resting  point  of 
thought. 

These  psychical  philosophers  pursue  similar  investiga- 
tions. Though  never  escaping  the  unit,  personal,  con- 
scious, I ;  they  endeavor  to  resolve  it  into  constituents  of 
sensation  or  feehng.  The  senses  however  always  find  a 
cause  for  every  excitation  ;  and  the  feelings  an  impulse 
for  every  emotion.  They  too  stop,  some  on  one  and  some 
on  another  step  of  the  backward  descending  way. towards 
the  deep  of  all  the  past ;  seeing  steps  yet  below  fading 
into  dimness,  yet  remaining  steps  to  the  last,  one  lead- 
ing to  the  other  in  an  unsearchable  series.  Here  their 
baffled  minds  also  stop,  and  take  their  choice  between 
the  nothing-Hke  confufeion  of  a  circle  of  causes,  where,  at 
some  undiscoverable  point  of  junction,  cause  and  effect 
commingle  ;  or,  else,  acknowledge  the  necessity  of  the 
First  Cause;  or  wilfully  declare  that  "Nothing,"  is  the 


54        THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

source  of  the  "  All "  ;  or  finally,  in  asserting  that  the  First 
Cause  is  "  unthinkable,"  manifest  that  they  are  them- 
selves then  thinking  of  it. 

Both  these  classes,  including  all  searchers  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  infinitesimal,  make  evident  that  demonstra- 
tion is  impossible.  They  thus  add  their  testimony',  some 
unconsciously  and  all  unwillingly,  to  the  fact  that  the 
final  basis  of  knowledge  is  not  "I  know,"  but  "I  be- 
lieve." 

The  two  opposite  classes  of  physicists  and  metaphysi- 
cists,  who  look  not  downward  towards  the  infinitesimal 
but  abroad  and  upward  towards  the  infinite,  begin  with 
the  common  human  consciousness  expressed  by  "  We  "  ; 
and  inquire  of  the  Universe,  '  What  and  whence  is  it  ; 
what  is  man,  and  how  are  the  Cosmos  and  Humanity 
mutually  related ' ! 

The  physical  Universe  expands  beyond  their  utmost 
telescopic  vision.  It  divides  beyond  their  last  spectro- 
scopic analysis.  Effect,  as  the  final  phenomenon,  assures 
some  yet  undiscovered  cause.  Knowledge  in  this  field 
also  is  never  demonstration.  It  rests  at  last  on  belief. 
Cause  must  precede  effect,  and  must  be  adequate  to  the 
effect.  Belief  is  the  soil  out  which  springs  all  the  growth 
of  cosmical  science  ;  and  the  ground  in  which  all  knowl- 
edge of  the  Universe  is  rooted. 

The  ".World  of  Mind,"  in  like  manner,  is  traversed 
and  searched  by  the  metaphysicians.  Their  cosmical 
conceptions  will  come  under  review,  when  the  article  of 
the  Creed  upon  Creation  is  reached.  Now  it  is  only 
relevant  to  consider,  notice,  and  record  the  fact,  that 
their  utmost  searchings  into  the  origin  and  ground  of 
thought,  have  never  discovered  anything  lower  than  just 
such  descending  steps  as  science  has  found  in  the  physi- 
cal universe.     Demonstration  eludes  the  metaphysicians 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        55 

always.  Their  various  schools,  disagreeing  with  each 
other,  adopt  each  its  own  ultimatum  ;  which,  however, 
on  examination,  proves  to  be  a  last-point  only  because 
"  they  will  have  it  so."  Every  school  of  metaphysicians 
rests  finally  not  on  *'I  know,"  but  "1  believe." 

Like  all  searchers  after  msdom,  they  begin  and  end 
with,  not  knowledge,  but  belief.  Indeed  all  the  knowl- 
edge attained  in  science  and  philosophy — rich,  and 
varied  and  wonderful  as  it  is — rests  never  on  final  dem- 
onstration. At  the  very  most  it  begins  with  behef  in 
the  irreversible,  natural  order  and  harmony  of  cause  and 
effect ;  and  closes  with  looking  forward  to  endless  con- 
tinuance of  this  Cosmos,  or  of  some  other  duly  correlated 
cosmical  order  and  harmony  ;  assuming  always  some 
seK-consistent  *' Tendency,"  "Force,"  "Energy,"  or  what- 
ever may  be  invented  as  a  term  to  express  the  inevitable 
First  Cause, 

Furthermore  the  consciousness,  assurance,  and  entire 
conviction  of  the  common  unity  of  Humanity,  expressed 
in  the  opening  "  We  "  of  the  Greed,  is  just  as  effectually 
asserted  and  assumed  by  all  schools  of  science  and  phi- 
losophy. In  terms  indeed  they  deny  this,  as  pertina- 
ciously as  th^y  assert  the  unthinkableness  of  The. First 
Cause ;  yet  in  terms  that  contradict  themselves,  as 
evidently  as  when  they  assert  the  divisibleness  of  the 
conscious  I,  in  language  that  never  gets  rid  of  the 
expression  of  that  consciousness.  Experience  of  the 
methods  pursued  by  men  of  Science  and  Philosoj)hy 
teaches  us  to  look  for  their  dee|)est  convictions,  not 
often  in  their  express  conclusions,  but  in  their  inadvert- 
encies. 

This  one  fact  is  evidently  characteristic  of  them  all : 
they  are  never  satisfied  to  hold  their  views,  in  the  re- 
cesses of  their  own  consciousness.     They  are  propagand- 


56  THE   CEEED   AND   MODEEN   THOTTGHT. 

ists  all ;  and  none  the  less  when  disavowing  a  desire  to 
push  their  opinions.  The  active  propagandists  proclaim 
their  conviction  of  the  unity  of  Humanity,  by  their  efforts 
to  support  their  views  upon  arguments  and  illustrations  ; 
while  the  passive  propagandists  are  content  with  super- 
cihousness  towards  all  who  hold  views  contraiy  to  or 
inconsistent  with  their  own.  Why  is  the  one  contemp- 
tuous, and  the  other  aggressive  ?  Evidently  because  both 
feel  that  other  men  ought  to  come  and  should  be  drawn 
to  their  positions.  But  why?  Solely  because  of  the 
unity  of  Humanity.  The  considerations  of  fact  and 
probabiht}^  upon  which  their  views  are  based,  they  would 
never  think  of  presenting  to  dogs  or  elephants  or  even 
gorillas.  However  near  relationship  some  claim  to  the 
latter  animal,  none  argue  with  him  ;  and  none  despise 
him  because  he  is  not  a  positivist  or  an  idealist,  or  any- 
thing else  they  may  happen  themselves  to  be  ;  but  they 
cannot  rest  without  either  contemning  or  endeavoring 
to  convince  men  who  refuse  to  follow  them. 

This  Unity  of  Humanity  therefore,  is  as  much  part  of 
the  common  conviction  of  all  classes  of  thinking  and 
talking  men  ;  as  it  is  of  the  holders  to  The  Creed.  As 
with  their  utmost  analysis  the  former  cannot  express 
themselves  without  the  I,  so,  with  all  their  synthesis,  they 
come  out  always  on  the  We ;  and,  as  they  never  reach 
demonstration,  they  are  compelled  to  say  "I  believe," 
and  to  assume  the  necessity  and  avow  the  obligation  of 
"We  believe." 

The  Creed  opens  at  the  common  point  where  science 
and  philosophy  close.  It  takes  their  own  formula,  when 
they  have  no  power  to  use  it  further,  and  simply  goes 
up  higher.  It  is  no  enemy  to  knowledge.  It  has  not  a 
word  of  condemnation  for  any  form  of  honest  investiga- 
tion.    It  only  avows,  what  aU  thinking  discovers,  that 


THE   CEEED    AlTD   MODERN   THOUGHT.  57 

"I,  We  believe,"  is  the  beginning  of  all  wisdom,  and  the 
only  portal  to  knowledge. 

Primarily,  'behef  is  not  an  attainment,  but  a  spon- 
taneity. All  human  persons  believe.  They  believe 
everything  at  first.  Doubt  is  learned,  but  belief  comes 
by  natiu-e.  However  early  doubt  may  spring  up,  when 
once  developed  it  takes  an  important  part  in  formation 
of  mind  and  character.  It  is  often  allied  with  wisdom. 
Reason  often  ends  in  doubt,  and  frequently  begins  with 
it.  The  affections  sometimes  choose  doubt,  and  some- 
times are  rudely  forced  by  it.  The  Will  doubts,  when 
allured  by  the  affections,  or  moved  by  reason  ;  and  some- 
times doubts  independently,  through  assumed  and  proud 
self-sufficiency.  Doubt  being  the  antagonist  of  belief 
and  able  to  infect  all  and  every  personal  consciousness,  it 
follows  that  belief,  when  full  and  complete,  will  include 
all  the  faculties  and  powers  of  both  "soul  and  body." 
Very  little  self-reilection  reveals  that  the  body  may  yield 
assent  when  the  mind  rebels,  and  the  mind  may  accept 
what  the  affections  recoU  from,  and  the  will  may  be 
separated  from  either.  As  before  negatively,  so  now  posi- 
tively, it  appears  that  "  belief  "  must  iuclude  the  whole 
person,  in  all  due  relation,  and  harmonious  cooperation 
of  parts.  When  it  is  said  "  I  beheve,"  the  whole  person, 
assents  and  consents  in  the  conclusion,  taking  all  its 
consequences. 

In  fulness  of  belief  is  rest,  and  only  therein.  The 
whole  person  in  fully  beheving  gathers  himself,  or  is 
gathered  together,  in  conscious  completeness  of  unity. 
He  has  "  attained."  He  has  ascended  to  a  plane  on 
which,  in  clear  light  and  open  space,  he  may  pause  and 
breathe,  and  look  upward  to  the  steps  yet  impending. 
Disintegration,  as  an  idea  and  possibility,  belongs  to  the 
past.  He  has  thought  that  subject  out,  and  found  no 
3* 


58       THE  CKEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

status  for  it  in  connexion  with  the  unit  person  beHeving. 
Complex,  yet  one,  he  beheves  with  all  his  powers,  attain- 
ments, character  and  faculties.  He  has  chosen  his  way 
and  his  course.  He  has  not  enslaved  himself.  Not  any 
part  of  himself  has  expanded  beyond  its  measure,  nor 
has  he  cramped  any  part.  His  unity,  including  all  parts 
in  due  relations  and  comprising  all  in  whole,  is  simi^le. 
Nor  in  the  future  does  he  fear  to  do,  or  suffer  self- 
violence.  In  sweet  accord,  his  whole  nature  believes.  Liv- 
ing waters  of  Ufe  refresh  him  now,  and  as  he  is  assured 
will  continue  always  to  refresh  him.  Although  he  may 
not  translate — to  his  mind  for  instance — the  full  signifi- 
cance of  his  present  assurance,  yet  his  mind  has  attained, 
received,  and  accepted  all  it  needs.  It  is  full,  and  all 
else  in  him  is  full  also. 

This  united  human  entity,  or  person,  has  some  object 
of  belief.  It  must  be  to  him  an  object,  and  therefore 
distinct  from  himself.  However  discerned,  whether 
through  sense,  reason,  or  spiritual  apprehension,  it  is 
something  apart  from  himself ;  and  recognized  as  exist- 
ing independently. 

Two  schools  of  Modern  Thought  deny  this  position ; 
while  they  oppose  each  other.  The  Idealists,  who  assert 
that  we  cannot  know  things  in  themselves,  but  can  only 
know  certain  impressions  made  on  our  senses,  would 
have  us  beheve  that  it  is  impossible  to  have  any  knowl- 
edge, objective  to,  or  outside  ourselves.  The  answer  to 
them  is,  that  they  confound  two  distinct  facts  or  posi- 
tions. We  cannot  indeed  know  hoio  we  know  external 
things,  but  the  common  assurance  of  mankind  is  positive 
that  we  do  know  them,  and  this  common  assurance  is 
the  basis  of  all  axioms.  If  we  could  know  how  we  know, 
we  should  comprehend  all  existence.  If  we  compre- 
hended all  existence,  we  should  be  ourselves  superior  to 


THE  CBEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        59 

it.  It  would  belong  to  us,  and  we  should  be  above  all 
its  conditions.  Man,  in  that  view,  is  not  creature,  but 
Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  things  ;  and,  as  there  cannot 
be  two  separate  Supreme  beings,  every  man  can  only  be 
a  constituent  in  one  great  unit  of  divine  humanity. 

The  Ideahsts  should  be  left  quite  free,  to  show  man, 
in  humanity,  thus  supreme  over  all  things,  if  they  can. 
It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  be  shocked  at  such  an  attempt. 
It  may  be  only  one  legitimate  outaction  of  that  godlike- 
ness  which  Christianity  declares  to  be  an  essential  char- 
acteristic, and  the  peculiar  distinction  of  the  human  race. 
Indeed  there  is  something  noble  in  the  daring  displayed  ; 
and  grand  in  the  position  taken  ;  by  one  who,  beginning 
with  the  unquestionable  first  principle  of  the  Idealists — 
that  ideas  are  all  we  know  of  things — pushes  on  to  that 
giddy,  sheer  edge  of  thought,  where  he  must  advance 
but  finds  no  ground  further  to  tread.  Here  the  Idealist 
does  what  all  thinkers  must  do.  He  says  "  I  believe." 
What  he  believes  will  be  constituted  not  out  of  clear 
fact,  for  he  cannot  attain  it  in  this  direction ;  but  will  be 
composed  out  of  something  within  him.  There  is  an 
old  Book,  which  says  "  With  the  heart  man  believeth  " 
(Rom.  X-  10)  ;  or  as  the  words  may  mean,  "  in  the  heart 
it  is  believed."  Common  observation  and  reflection,  as 
well  as  the  profoundest  psychical  analysis,  all  show  that 
there  is  some  organ  or  faculty  in  every  man,  deeper  than 
Ms  mind,  upon  which  his  belief  finally  rests.  The  Ideal- 
ist uses  this  and  must  use  it  because  he  is  a  man.  Hav- 
ing used  it  he  declares,  not  what  he  demonstrably  knows, 
but  what  he  believes.  Then  he  shows  his  conscious  unity 
in  and  with  all  humanity,  by  pix)pagating  his  belief. 
He  gives  liis  reasons  why  others  should  believe  with 
him.  His  own  "  I  believe  "  is  thus  translated  into  "  We 
beheve."    He  is  at  one  with  the  opening  of  the  Creed. 


60       THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Now  comes  the  divergence.  The  Idealist  chooses  to 
stand  and  look  out  into  space.  He  cannot  demon- 
strate man's  seK-sufficience.  He  does  not  disprove,  he 
simply  declines  to  believe,  in  external  things,  and  d 
foi^tiori  in  any  Being  or  Power  beyond  them.  Those 
who  follow  The  Creed  can  afford  to  leave  him.  They 
have  followed  him  as  far  as  he  can  go ;  and  heard  him 
as  long  as  he  has  anything  to  say.  Now,  when  out  of 
his  heart  comes  his  declaration  of  behef,  the  answer  to 
him  is,  that  he  may  choose  for  himself  as  he  will,  but 
every  other  man  may  do  the  same.  The  follower  of  The 
Creed  accepts  the  proposition,  that  what  may  not  be 
comprehended  by  man  may  be  apprehended  by  him ; 
and  further  claims  that  apprehension  is  all  man  can 
aspire  after,  because  he  is  not  sufficient  to  himself  for 
himself:  the  finite  cannot  overstep  the  bounds  of  his 
own  being."  He  thinks  it  more  reasonable  to  hold  to 
the  reahty  of  self,  with  the  reality  of  objects  or  external 
things.  He  also  says  "  I,  We  believe  ",  confessing  the 
danger  of  "thoughts  in  the  heart",  but  seeing  only  con- 
fusion without  them.  He  walks  warily,  but  he  goes  for- 
ward with  the  "  me  "into  the  "  not  me."  The  sheer  edge 
whence,  looking  only  down  and  out,  no  thoroughfare 
opens,  is  found  to  have  a  pathway  along  its  edge,  where 
a  true  believer  may  securely  tho'  not  carelessly  walk, 
self-conscious,  with  the  universe  on  one  side.  Who  or 
What  lies  in  and  through  the  deep  profound  on  the 
other  side,  and  what  the  Universe  is  to  Him,  and  He  to 
it,  will  come  before  as  we  advance  further  into  The 
Creed. 

The  school  of  Modem  Thought,  which  stands  on  the 
opposite  pole  to  the  Idealists,  acknowledges  both  the 
outward  and  the  inward,  the  object  thought  and  tho 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        61 

subject  thinking,  but  declares  that  they  are  idevtical. 
One  of  their  latest  writers  says,  "In  my  Feeling  that 
which  is  not  Me  is  Matter,  the  objective  aspect  of  the 
Felt,  as  IVIind  is  the  subjective  aspect."  *  In  another 
place  the  same  author  compares  consciousness  and  its 
object,  to  the  convexity  and  concavity  of  a  curved  line, 
claiming  that  both  are  only  different  aspects  of  the  same 
thing.  Evidently  in  his  figure  and  in  his  definition, 
he  either  does  not  perceive,  or  would  hide  the  fact  that- 
he  assumes  a  middle  sometliing  which  is  neither  of  the 
aspects  but  rather  that  on  which  both  aspects  impinge. 
Where  would  his  concavity  and  convexity  be,  without 
the  line  to  hold  them,  and  show  them  forth?  "Where 
would  the  "  objective  and  subjective  aspects  of  the  Felt " 
be,  without  a  being  feeling  and  conscious?  A  vast 
amount  of  writing  is  spent,  in  tracing  the  innumerable 
combinations  of  impact  and  resultant  feehng,  through 
individuals  and  groups  of  both  faculties  and  persons, 
but  never  is  the  real  issue  directly  faced.  The  conscious 
I,  is  assumed  throughout,  and  manifested  even  in  the 
attempts  made  to  disprove  its  existence.  Indeed  it  is 
confessed  in  terms  that  in  one  sense  consciousness  is 
"an  ultimate  fact,  which  cannot  therefore  be  made  more 
intelligible  than  it  is  already."  f  It  is  not  pretended 
that  there  may  not  be  many  varieties  of  fonns  and 
man;jr  degrees  of  intensity  in  consciousness.  Indeed 
there  is  a  distinct  conception  of  existence,  which  is  re- 
garded as  the  basis  of  all  general  and  personal  life,  of  ■ 
which  we  are  indefinitely  conscious  ;  we  know  it,  but  we 
cannot  define  it.  This  is  sometimes  aptly  named  Sub- 
consciousness. Distinct  however  from  varieties  of  form, 
separate  in  idea  from  intensity  of  expression,  and  not 

*  Physical  Basis  of  Mind.     G.  H.  Lewis,  Boston,  1877,  p.  389. 
fib.  p.  401. 


62  THE    CREED    AND   MODERN    THOUGHT. 

the  same  thougli  nearly  associated  with  subconscious-- 
ness  is  that  intelligible  but  indefinite  unit  of  conscious- 
Bess  which  is  expressed  by  the  I.  This  is  the  interme- 
diate "line,"  outside  concave  and  inside  convex:  this  is 
the  "  being  "  on  whom  the  "  objective  aspect  of  The  Felt" 
impinges,  and  in  whom  its  "  subjective  aspect"  arises. 

Thus  even  the  learned,  laborious,  and  acute  advocate 
of  the  Absolute  Identity  of  the  substance  and  feeling, 
after  doing  good  work  against  both  materialists  and 
ideaHsts,  comes  at  last  himself  to  the  same  final  issue 
they  also  reach.  Compelled  to  acknowledge  the  ultimate, 
conscious  I ;  he  proceeds  as  they  also  do  to  propagate 
his  opioions ;  and,  by  assuming  that  what  he  thinks 
true  ought  to  be  so  regarded  by  others,  he  also  reveals 
his  conviction  of  the  common  oneness  of  the  human  race  ; 
and  further,  by  failing  to  demonstrate,  is  compelled  to 
resort  finally  to  an  ultimatum  of  belief :  he  shows  that 
he  is  no  excejotion  amid  philosophers,  but,  with  them 
all  and  with  The  Creed,  testifies  that  "  I,  We  believe  "  is 
a  necessity  for  all  thinking,  and  the  primary  condition 
of  all  knowledge. 

If  the  unit}^  of  person  were  susceptible  of  analysis,  and 
if  the  common  sense  of  the  unity  of  humanity  were  an 
acquirement  and  not  a  si^ontaneity,  then  The  Creed 
might  fairly  be  questioned  at  the  very  beginning.  It 
might  seem  to  imj^ose  by  authority  something  doubtful 
or  disputable.  When,  however  on  the  contrary,  it  mani- 
festly starts  where  all  thought  begins,  and  when  unaided 
also  ends  ;  and  when  it  simj)ly  promulgates,  at  its  open- 
ing, the  condition  precedent  of  all  understanding  and 
knowledge,  there  can  be  no  just  doubt  that  it  is  true  to 
the  honor  and  dignity  of  man  and  humanity.  It  respects 
the  sense  of  liberty,  the  distinctive  characteristic  and 
strong  assurance  of  man's  unique  nobility. 


THE    CREED   AND   MODERN   THOrGHT.  G3 

No  doubt  the  confession  of  the  primary  necessity  of 
belief,  is  also  a  confession  of  comparative  inferiority.  To 
know  is  more  than  to  believe.  Man  therefore  has  not 
attained  unto  the  highest,  nor  can  he  ever  encompass  the 
highest.  He  may  develop  wonderfully,  but  can  never 
attain  the  unattainable  sufficiency  of  self  to  self.  Self- 
sufficience  belongs  only  to  one  free  by  nature  from  all 
relations  and  conditions,  and  subject  only  to  such  as  may 
be  self-imposed.  Man  however  is  born  under  conditions 
and  never  escapes  them  ;  and  manifestly  never  can,  be- 
cause there  are  no  steps  leading  up  to  the  Infinite  ;  the 
last  step,  within  the  finite,  being  jet  infinitely  far  off 
from  that  which  is  The  Infinite. 

It  is  possible  to  conceive  of  a  Being  so  self-reliant  and 
self-sufficient  that  He  is  The  Truth  with  Power.  Such  a 
Being's  Word  must  be  always  true,  because  the  word  is 
the  utterance  of  consciousness,  the  outgoing  of  thought, 
holding  the  Speaker  to  all  he  says,  and  enlisting  all  his 
powers  for  the  fulfilment  of  his  utterance.  He  must 
also  be,  not  only  self-consistent  tliroughout,  but  superior 
to  all  accidents.  In  Himself  He  must  be  perfect,  and 
from  Him  all  things  must  proceed.  Essentially,  there- 
fore, nothing  is  beyond  or  independent  of  Him.  "By 
Him  all  things  consist."  This  Being  evidently  cannot  be 
a  creature,  He  can  only  be  The  Creator  and  Preserver. 

Man  is  not  this  conceivable  Being.  AVe  say  conceiv- 
able, for  we  have  not  yet  inquired  if  He  is.  Thus  far 
we  are  only  inquiring  about  man ;  and  we  rest  here 
with  proving  that  man,  being  evidently  neither  creator 
nor  preserver  of  all  things,  cannot  be  sufficient  unto  him- 
self. Fact  or  Truth  therefore,  in  its  completeness,  is  too 
vast  for  him  to  encompass,  and  too  great  for  him  to 
make.  It  is  one,  real,  and  outside  of  every  man.  What- 
ever he  may  think  ;  primal,  concrete,  and  universal  fact, 


64       THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

or  truth,  is  unalterable.  "Whatever  man  may  think  or 
speak,  the  word  of  truth  tries  and  judges  him.  If  two 
men  disagree,  one  or  both  are  wrong.  If  they  agree 
they  can  even  then  only  act  together  :  their  final  confir- 
mation depends,  not  upon  their  own  concord,  but  upon 
their  several  and  joint  accord  with  reality,  i.  e.  the  truth. 
Philosophic  subtlety,  although  driven  by  hard  fact  to 
the  confession  of  man's  self-insufficience,  has  invented 
"  ways  of  escape  "  from  consequent  moral  responsibility. 
AVhile  acknowledging  a  creator  and  preserver,  it  has  de- 
nied His  personality.  Sometimes,  it  has  discoursed  of 
a  good  and  evil  principle,  at  conflict  in  creation  and 
progress.*     Sometimes,  it  has  spoken  of  spirit  and  mat- 

*  "  With  the  conception  of  two  antagonistic  powers,  which 
severally  work  good  and  evil  in  the  world,  the  facts  are  con- 
gruous enough,  (i.  e.  pain  and  pleasure).  But  with  the  concep- 
tion of  a  supreme  beneficence,  this  gratuitous  infliction  of  mis- 
ery on  man,  in  common  with  all  other  terrestrial  creatures  capa- 
ble of  feeling,  is  absolutely  incompatible."  Herbert  Spencer. 
Princip.  of  Biol.  I.  p.  344.     Appleton,  N.  Y.,  1875. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  latest  Modem  Philosopher,  should 
take  his  position  exactly  where  the  earliest  stood.  The  sufficiert 
answer  is  the  old  one,  that  "  mercy  and  truth  have  met  together," 
however  inadequate  human  understanding  is  to  the  discovery  of 
their  point  of  union  ;  and  that  without  the  antagonism  man  could 
never  have  been  godlike,  for  he  would  never  have  had  any  choice, 
and  hence  would  never  have  known  liberty. 

In  philosophy,  pure  and  simple,  this  theory,  of  two  original 
antagonistic  principles  of  good  and  evil,  is  untenable.  Both  can- 
not possibly  be  equal,  for  that  involves  everlasting  confusion. 
One  must  be  the  greater  and  therefore  The  Supreme,  i.  e.  The 
First  Cause.  Supremacy  is  indivisible  ;  "it  cannot  give  its  glory 
to  another."  Thus  all  attempts  to  solve  by  reason  the  mystery 
of  evil,  fail.  We  must  accept  evil  and  pain  as  obvious  facts  ;  and, 
failing  to  account  for  them,  can  only  believe  and  wait.  The 
argument  for  the  First  Cause  lies  in  another  direction,  and  re- 


THE    CKEED    AND    MODERN    THOrGHT.     •  65 

ter  as  two  great  antagonistic  powers,  struggKng  into  and 
through  creation.  Sometimes,  it  has  made  "  chance  "  its 
ultimate  rest.  Not  long  ago  "  force  "  was  its  one,  ever 
evolving,  sufficient  cause.  There  is  little  to  choose  be- 
tween any  of  its  theories.  One  after  another  philosophic 
theories,  about  being  or  existence,  have  risen  mth  noise 
and  shouting ;  and,  having  increased  knowledge  by  stimu- 
lating study  of  facts,  finally  found  themselves  too  narrow 
to  hold  all  facts,  and  then  have  subsided.  These  theories, 
when  closely  examined,  ai-e  found  to  be  only  new  masks 
on  old  faces,  new  names  for  old  things.  The  "  force  " 
theory  is  not  essentially  different  from  that  of  "  chance," 
while  neither  is  so  nearly  reasonable  as  the  old  one  of 
the  conflict  between  a  good  and  evil  principle. 

It  will  be  obseired  that  all  these  theories  cannot 
escape  from,  and  therefore  tacitly  tho'  often  unwillingly 
assume,  a  primary  and  fundamental  reality,  or  "  truth," 
to  which  all  views  are  referred,  and  by  which  they  must 
be  tested. 

Besides  this  coincident  testimony,  of  both  willing  and 
unwilling  witnesses,  to  the  unity,  absoluteness  and  ob- 
jectivity of  truth  ;  the  fact  becomes  further  evident  nega- 
tively from  the  consequences  of  its  denial.  As  before 
intellectually,  so  now  morally,  we  see  that  if  truth  were 
not  thus  absolute,  it  would  be  relative.  Every  man  then 
might  make  right  for  himself :  what  every  man  thought 
and  willed  would  be  his  right.  Men  have  tried  this 
theory,  but  always  wrought  out  of  it  confusion.  It  is 
impossible  to  evolve  harmony  out  of  it.  When  tried  by 
power,    it  has  gone  on   through  tyranny  to   anarchy  ; 


mains  philosophically  unaffected  by  the  mystery  of  evil.  Reason 
cannot  destroy  facts.  Faith  only  can  deal  with  the  apparently 
irreconcilable,  by  leaving  them  to  the  light  of  the  future. 


60  THE  CKEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT. 

while  liberty  has  only  come  to  those  who  have  sought 
the  one,  outside,  absolute,  all  including  right  or  truth. 
"When  tried  by  "  philosophers,"  this  theory  has  led  them, 
through  much  supercihousness  and  dogmatism  sustained 
by  mutual  admiration,  to  treat  all  who  question  it  as  per- 
sons hopelessly  mystified  by  prejudice  or  naturally  too 
narrow  minded  for  great  thought. 

Unmoved  by  personal  considerations,  and  unimpelled 
to  personal  defence  or  recrimination,  the  true  philoso- 
pher— the  real  wisdom-lover — should  calmly  hold  this 
theory,  of  truth's  relativity,  in  strong  grasp,  and  compel 
it  to  reveal  its  essence  and  power.  If  truth  is  relative 
and  not  absolute,  every  man,  at  least,  can  make  his  own 
right.  It  follows  that  what  any  human  person  thinks 
right,  is  truth  to  him.  It  will  only  be  necessary  to  evolve 
this  principle  in  one  direction,  to  show  where  it  leads  in 
every  direction.  *  I  think  a  house  is  mine  and  proceed 
to  eject  the  occupant.  He  thinks  it  is  his  and  resists.  I 
prevail  and  he  retires.  Is  he  wronged  ?  By  no  means, 
for  my  thought  about  the  house  was  truth  to  me,  and  I 
have  by  power  succeeded  in  ejecting  him,  and  establish- 
ing myself.'  Eight  and  wrong  have  no  place  in  this 
theory.  Success  is  the  only  reality ;  not  so  much  evi- 
dence of  right  as  right  itself.  Projected  to  the  universe, 
and  generalized,  this  theory  is  "  the  simple  plan."  Under 
it  man  has  only  to  use  all  his  force,  and  abide  the  conse- 
quences. He  can  neither  wrong  nor  be  wronged.  He 
can  therefore  never  be  brought  into  judgment.  All  the 
universe  is  open  to  him.  Conflicts,  which  rage  on  earth, 
can  only  go  on  everywhere,  forever.  There  is  no  princi- 
ple by  which  adjustment  is  possible  ;  and  therefore  no 
adjuster.  Eight  is  simply  a  misnomer  ;  and  wrong  is  a 
myth. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  consider  the  answer  that  may 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        G7 

be  made  against  this  reductio  ad  absurdum.  If  any  one 
chooses  to  say  that  th,is  theory  produces  confusion  tem- 
porarily and  on  the  earth,  while  in  the  boundless  uni- 
verse with  all  time  for  its  evolution  it  will  bring  out 
harmony  and  peace  :  the  answer  is,  that  ujDon  its  own 
principle  it  has  not  produced  confusion  at  all,  and  there- 
fore all  talk  of  coming  harmony  and  peace  is  a  simple 
abandonment  of  the  whole  ground.  What  is  harmony, 
but  the  reciprocal  accord  and  communion  of  things  ob- 
jective to  and  with  one  another  :  and  what  is  peace  but 
the  reciprocal  charity  towards  one  another  of  persons, 
outside  and  distinct  from  one  another  ?  Hence  appears 
again  the  distinctive,  objective,  and  absolute  existence  of 
truth ;  which,  through  its  principle  of  beauty,  draws 
forth  high  and  universal  harmony,  and,  through  its  prin- 
ciple of  power,  gives  victory  to  right  and  finally  makes 
peace. 

In  fact  all  attempts  to  escape  the  acknowledgment  of 
the  absolute,  objective,  unity  of  self-existent  truth,  have 
proved  vain  in  every  direction.  The  very  deniers  of  the 
principle  contradict  themselves,  in  framing  by  language 
the  form  of  their  denial.  The  assertion  that  their  view 
is  true,  is  itself  an  acknowledgment  of  all  that  is  claimed 
against  them.  Even  in  declaring  that  every  person  de- 
cides and  makes  his  own  truth,  they  take  one  or  other 
horn  of  a  dilemma.  If  they  claim  that  this  theory  is 
true,  they  acknowledge  an  outside  tribunal  to  which  all 
are  amenable  i.  e.  they  confess  the  absolute  unity  of  self- 
existent  truth.  If  they  reject  this,  nothing  remains ; 
and  all  reality  must  be  a  myth:  not  even  "relativity" 
will  save  them,  for  the  relative  must  have  its  antecedent, 
and  that  can  only  be  the  absolute — the  self-existent. 

The  same  argument  wiU  serve  toward  those  who  raise 
a  distinct  issue,  respecting  moral  right.      Its  idea,  like 


6S       THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

that  of  the  true,  is,  and,  in  the  same  manner,  may  be 
shown  to  be,  not  a  result  of  experience  but  an  original 
and  innate  principle ;  because  the  very  objectors  them- 
selves always  accept  it  axiomatically.  They  never  "  ac- 
count for  it,"  without  in  very  terms  assuming  it. 

One  and  all  therefore  bear  testimony,  positively  or 
negatively,  to  the  universal  necessity  of  belief.  Every 
religion  conjoins  with  philosophy  in  this  same  testi- 
mony. The  irrepressible,  universal  desire  to  propagate 
one's  belief  is  unintentional  but  clearest  proof  that  noth- 
ing can  drive  out  of  any  person  his  fundamental  convic- 
tion, that  truth  for  one  man  is  truth  for  all  men.  The 
philosophers  of  every  school,  in  every  age,  with  varying 
outward  expression,  have  spoken  as  if  "they  were  the 
people  and  wisdom  would  die  with  them."  Why  should 
they  thus  exalt  themselves,  if  they  did  not  think  or  wish 
to  think  that  they  are  eminently  the  discoverers  or  pos- 
sessors of  truth?  This  thought  and  wish,  with  their 
restless  spirit  of  propagandism,  wheels  them  into  the 
common  line  of  humanity,  where  they  also  take  up  the 
witness  for  the  unity,  objectivity  and  universality  of  truth. 

Belief  is  a  complex  operation,  because  Truth  is  vari- 
ous— not  discordant  but  differing  in  subject  object  and 
operation — .  Mathematical  truth  addresses  the  intellect ; 
moral,  the  reason  and  conscience  ;  sesthetical,  the  under- 
standing and  taste  ;  economic,  the  wisdom  and  judg- 
ment. Eeligion  alone  presents  its  truth  to  the  whole 
man.  It  comprehends  his  tripartite  unity.  It  addresses 
him  as  body,  soul,  and  spirit.  It  touches  and  enlivens 
every  faculty.  It  guides  and  rules  all.  It  includes  all 
his  interests.  Time  and  eternity  are  its  periods.  This 
world  and  the  next  are  its  fields. 

However  various,  in  creed  and  code,  different  religions 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        69 

may  be  ;  the  religious  idea,  pervading  all  forms,  is  fun- 
damentally that  of  cause  and  consequence.  As  in  com- 
mon experience,  we  never  can  be  satisfied  with  a  phe- 
nomenon, until  its  design  is  unravelled,  and  the  designer 
sought  for ;  so  in  the  study  of  the  complex  phenomena 
of  "  me  and  not  me,"  of  self  and  the  universe,  every 
active  mind  naturally  and  all  inevitably  look  back  per- 
sistently through  causal  effects,  until  a  beginning  is 
reached,  a  cause  found  which  is  not  itself  an  effect,  but 
the  one  source  of  all. 

The  opening  words  of  The  Creed,  "I,  we  believe,"  ex- 
press primarily  a  fact  of  all  experience.  The  unity  of 
truth — confirmed  as  we  have  seen  by  all  mankind  either 
through  assent  or  denial — is  involved  in  the  conjunction 
here  of  the  singTdar  and  plural  form  of  the  personal 
pronoun.  The  Eastern  and  the  Western  civilizations  and 
modes  of  thought  supplement  each  other.  The  Creed 
becomes  complete,  through  conjunction  of  western  in- 
dividuahty  and  eastern  correlation.  It  opens  not  with 
a  dogma,  but  with  an  axiom.  Incontrovertibly,  and 
self-evidently,  belief  must  be  in  every  person.  Therefore 
one  and  all  should  hold  to  the  one,  absolute  entity.  Truth. 


70       THE  CKEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT. 


"I,  iViz  hdunt  in  ®ne  ®oir." 

The  Original !  The  First  Existence !  The  Cause 
alone  causeless !  The  Foundation  of  all  reality !  The 
Source  of  being  !     The  Self-sustaining  !    The  Preserver  ! 

"  The  Unknown,"  say  the  philosophers :  The  Unknown 
in  essence,  and  in  the  fulness  of  His  power  the  Incom- 
prehensible, responds  fearlessly  the  Christian.  Thought 
and  expression  must  of  course  remain  within  the  limits 
of  human  capacity.  It  would  be  vanity  and  folly  to 
claim  for  man  capacity  to  comprehend  God.  He  only 
can  comprehend  Himself.  Belief  does  not  require  of 
man  comprehension.  We  search  with  our  minds,  and 
attain  whatever  intellect  can  encompass.  We  reach  out 
with  our  affections  and  sensibilities,  and  attach  to  what 
they,  apprehending,  may  commune  with.  Both  intellect 
and  affection  demand  a  cause ;  and,  following  back,  can 
only  rest  at  The  First  Cause.  There  is  no  escape  from 
this  searching  and  this  rest.  Every  system  has  it.  Even 
the  deniers  of  The  First  Cause,  invariably  set  up  a  first 
cause,  however  named.  "  Chance  ",  "  Force  ",  "  Vital 
Energy",  "Principles  good  or  evil  ",  "Permanent  possi- 
bilities of  sensation  or  feeling,"  "Abstract  Law,"  and 
even  "  Nothing  "  have  been  assumed  as  the  origin,  energy 
and  support  of  all  things.  Quiescence  being  self-contra- 
dictory and  absTU-d,  this  primordial  Some  or  No-thing  is 
said  to  act,  either  as  some  say  by  creative  operation,  or, 
as  others  with  solemn  absurdity  affirm,  by  endlessly  cir- 
cuitous evolution.     These  theories,  and  all  similar  ex- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        71 

pedients  are  manifestly  notliiiig  else  than  variations  of 
the  one,  irrepressible,  human  testimony,  to  the  universal, 
ineradicable  belief  in  the  Beginner  of  the  Beginning, 
The  First  Cause,  The  One  All,  God.  This  One  is  the 
same  to  all.  I  believe  and  We  believe.  No  dogma  yet ! 
Only  an  axiom  ! 

The  mind,  by  searching,  discovers  knowledge  built  on 
axioms.  '  What  or  who  is  God  '  ?  The  Incomprehen- 
sible ?  Undoubtedly  to  man  ;  for  the  effect  cannot  com- 
prehend its  own  cause.  But  man  has  capacities  capable 
of  large  attainments,  even  though  incapable  of  compre- 
hending i.  e.  taking  in  all.  W^e  never  give  up  effort  in 
things  temporal,  because  we  cannot  encompass  all.  So, 
in  searching  after  God,  we  may  find  much,  and  attain 
much,  tho'  not  all.  We  can  feel  after  Him,  and  touch 
His  fulness,  and  draw  our  measure  full ;  and  thus  know 
Him,  to  the  extent  of  our  present  powers,  with  the  con- 
fident assurance  of  Urger  receptions,  as  our  faculties  of 
apprehension  grow. 

A  clear  apprehension,  of  the  measure  and  limits  of 
human  capacity,  is  a  prerequisite  of  all  just  discrimina- 
tion ;  and  hence  essential  to  attainment  in  knowledge. 
The  real  is  boundless,  but  discernible.  We  are  capable 
of  receiving  it,  while  at  the  same  time  perceiving  its 
overarching,  all-pervading,  incomprehensible  fulness. 
We  cannot  explain  this  perception,  because  it  is  illimit- 
able and  therefore  indefinable.  It  is  not  inexpressible, 
because  we  are  capable  of  apprehending  it ;  but  the  form 
of  the  expression  is  indefinite,  though  distinct.  It  seems 
to  be  dual.  I  and  Thou  !  I,  conscious,  relative,  limited  I 
Thou,  One,  All,  Absolute  ! 

We  touch  here  the  utmost  bound  of  human  knowledge. 
At  that  bound  stands  man  in  his  completeness.  Body, 
soul,  and  spirit  all  are  active,  and  aU  united  in  conscious 


72       THE  CKEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

unity  of  living.  Personality  is  not  lost,  nor  is  it  ab- 
sorbed. The  "I,"  assuming  because  feeling  existence, 
through  all  its  wholeness  perceives  God.  It  does  not 
ask  the  body  to  comprehend  His  providence.  It  does 
not  require  the  soul  to  define  His  wisdom,  and  power, 
and  love.  It  does  not  demand  of  the  spirit  a  delineation 
of  His  being.  But  every  part  knows  His  presence  ;  and 
the  whole  person  confesses  Him,  and  believes.  If  the 
belief  be  willing,  trust  foUows  and  then  obedience.  If 
behef  be  unwilling,  "  many  inventions  are  sought  out  ", 
by  which  to  escape  the  obligations  of  belief. 

The  conscious  person,  standing  thus  at  the  outer  con- 
fines of  his  insufficience  feeling  after  and  believing  God, 
knows  that  he  himself  occupies  one  place  common  to  all 
humanity.  The  whole  of  mankind,  like  every  one,  stands 
there.  Whatever  is  peculiar,  in  any  person,  follows  its 
own  bent.  Whatever  is  common  to  all  affects  all  equally, 
or  rather  without  exception.  All  mankind,  like  every 
one,  believes  from  primary  necessity,  and  should  believe 
in  the  One  God  from  the  impulsion  and  thro'  the  guid- 
ance of  natural  reason.  Hence  "I  believe  in  God,"  in- 
volves "We  believe  in  God." 

This  All  is  One.  Not  merely  does  reason  show  that 
He  must  be  One,  because  of  the  confusion  and  even  con- 
tradiction of  the  idea  of  more  than  One  being  the  ener- 
getic All :  but  the  whole  united  complexity  of  the  con- 
scious, human  person— the  I — cannot  divide  belief,  and 
rest  satisfied  and  filled,  in  more  or  less  than  One,  caus- 
ing and  sustaining  All.  Here  the  unity  of  man  joins  the 
unity  of  God.  A  recognition  of  complexity  in  himself 
does  not  involve  the  idea  that  personality  is  an  aggrega- 
tion, a  mere  junction  of  parts.  Personality,  I,  is  known, 
perceived,  felt,  assumed,  as  a  unit ;  comprising  parts,  not 
comprised   in,  nor  formed   by  the   parts.     It   may  be 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       73 

called,  in  inaccurate  but  suggestive  language,  the  Organic 
Principle,  and  The  Germ.  The  one  would  suggest  its 
assimilating  power,  and  the  other  its  nucleus  to  which 
all  assimilations  join.  This  however  would  be  unsatis- 
factory, because  it  is  an  attempt  at  definition.  The  unity 
of  the  human  person  is  indescribable.  It  is  indefinable, 
and  by  the  mind  incomprehensible.  Every  part  and 
faculty  is  in  the  L  It  pervades  every  part.  Hence  the 
whole  human  being  is  single,  though  both  central  and 
pervading. 

This  single  personality  can  accept  one  God  only.  It 
must  have  Him,  not  merely  to  account  for  its  own  being  ; 
but  to  rest  upon  as  its  own  cause,  and  to  rest  in  as  its 
own  support,  to  ti'ust  as  its  hfe-giver  and  preserver,  to 
walk  with,  to  hope  in,  to  confide  with,  to  obey  willingly, 
in  one  word,  to  believe.  To  this  belief,  involving  all 
its  consequences,  man  brings  all  his  parts.  Faculty, 
power,  affection,  every  constituent  finds  all  it  needs  in 
the  One,  All  :  and  yet  it  never  stands  alone.  No  one 
part  goes  out  here  after  its  God,  while  another  finds  its 
God  there;  but  all  are  filled  through  the  conduit  of 
the  single  personality.  The  I  and  its  all,  together,  coact 
in  conception,  reception,  perception,  apprehension  and 
satisfaction. 

Again  we  come  out  to  the  verge  of  human  knowledge. 
With  all  that  composes  him,  alive,  active,  conscious,  and 
searching,  man  stands  on  the  edge  of  time  and  space, 
himself  now  a  creature  boimded  by  time  and  space,  yet 
knowing  that  beyond  both,  is  One,  to  Whom  neither  time 
nor  space  is  a  boundary.  Out  of  time  and  space  man 
can  neither  peer,  nor  reach  ;  but  from  beyond  both,  he 
knows  and  is  assured,  that  the  One  can  see  and  reach 
down  to  him. 

Thus  again  "  I  believe.'* 
4 


74:  THE   CREED   AND  MODERN   THOUGHT. 

Moreover  all  men  being  like  me  and,  beyond  contro- 
versy, organically  one  with  me  ;  what  I  require,  mankind 
requires  also ;  what  is  essential  to  me  is  essential  to 
every  other  human  person,  and  therefore  to  all  men ; 
what  fills  and  only  tills  me  full,  fills  them,  evei-y  one  and 
all,  in  like  manner.  One  God  only  satisfies  me  :  One 
God  therefore  embraces  the  needy  all.  There  can  be  no 
division  of  my  belief,  and  hence  none  for  all.  My  unity 
represents  the  unity  of  the  One  human  family.  There- 
fore "  I,  we  believe  in  one  God." 

Thus  far  there  is  substantial  agreement  between  The 
Oi'eed,  and  al^l  thought,  modern  or  ancient.  Philoso- 
phers indeed,  now  as  ever,  deny  God.  Indeed  it  is  fash- 
ion at  present  among  them  to  ignore  Him.  Their  sys- 
tems do  not  need  Him,  they  say.  When  He  is  named 
they  decline  to  consider  Him.  And  yet  not  one  of  them 
can  escape  the  idea  of  a  beginning  and  a  Beginner, 
liowever  impalpable  their  conceptions,  or  abstract  their 
definitions.  Every  philosophical  system  starts  from  a 
primary  axiom.  Axioms  involve  the  necessity  of  a  sub- 
standing  reality,  as  energy  involves  that  of  substanding 
power. 

When  the  philosophers  get  below  axioms,  then  they 
will  have  demonstrated  the  self-sufiicience  of  man.  He 
can  then  make  his  own  axioms.  He  will  then  control 
and  command,  i.  e.  be  all  truth  and  all  power. 

Let  the  philosophers  do  this  if  they  can.  Surely  no 
one  is  able  to  prevent  them,  and  no  clear  and  honest 
thinker  cares  to  try.  Until  they  do  touch  that  depth, 
and  stand  in  it  self-sustained,  and  clearly  show  their  self- 
sustenance,  sufficience  and  support ;  they  must  allow,  or 
be  forced  to  confess,  that  the  One  God  of  the  Creed  is  a 
reasonable  name  for  that  primordial  All,  on  which  or  in 
Whom  all  axioms  rest,  and  may  only  be  accounted  for ; 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        «0 

on  Whom  all  primary  facta  are  founded ;  and  from 
Whom  proceeds  all  concurrence  of  activities,  with  all 
correlation  and  conservation  of  forces. 

This  primordial  All ;  whose  existence  alone  accounts 
for  those  self-evident  intellectual  propositions,  down, 
on,  to  which  every  philosophical  system  descends  and 
stops ;  and  for  those  ultimate  facts,  where  science  also 
reaches  its  boundary ;  is  cognized  by  the  conscious  I.  • 
Only  God,  the  name  in  the  Creed,  satisfies  this  cogni- 
tion. "  Nothing  "  cannot  be  God,  because  out  of  noth- 
ing, nothing  can  come.  "Necessity"  cannot  be  God, 
because  necessity,  being  compelled  and  not  self-com- 
pelling, must  have  some  power  beyond  it.  So  of  any 
other  abstract  notion  of  the  primordial  All,  it  assiunes 
something  beyond  or  back  of  itself. 

Piercing,  as  with  a  spear  of  light,  through  all  darken- 
ing counsel  of  words  without  knowledge  ;  every  earnest, 
honest  and  persistent  human  person  strikes  resolutely 
at  the  one  point,  where  all  philosophical  axioms,  and  all 
ultimate  scientific  facts  converge.  There  it  demands, 
*  Who  or  Wliat  is  this  substanding  reahty,  whence  come 
forth  all  axioms,  principles,  and  existences?'  Sneering 
will  not  silence  this  question.     Ignoring  will  not  baffle  it. 

Finding  no  answer  from  the  wise  of  this  world ;  the 
self-conscious  human  person,  speaking  to  himself,  de- 
clares that — as  his  own  I  is  the  centre  and  circumference 
of  his  cognition,  feelings,  and  volitions,  as  well  as 
the  foundation,  the  walls,  the  rooms  and  the  roof  of  all 
his  capacities  with  their  attainments — this  primordial  All 
cannot  be  less  therefore  than  he,  its  creature,  is.  He, 
its  creature,  finds  himself  a  distinct,  singly  self-conscious 
person,  component  but  indivisible,  able  in  idea  to  dis- 
cern parts  of  himself,  but  never  able  to  decompose  nor 
outfathom   his   ever-present,   unit,   conscious  L     This 


76       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOrGHT. 

comprehensive,  single  personality  is  his  noblest,  and 
most  valued  human  distinction.  He,  Who  made  the  hu- 
man I,  cannot  be  less  than  a  person  Himself.  "  I,  the 
Lord  and  none  else."     Is.  XLV.  5. 

The  Creed  is  therefore  profoundly  true  to,  and  grandly 
accordant  with  man's  common,  deepest  self-conscious- 
ness. It  leaves  intact  his  noble  assurance  of  personality, 
and  puts  before  him  the  One  God,  The  Person  whence 
all  personality  sprang,  towards  "Whom  every  person 
yearning  for  personal  communion  may  turn,  assured 
that  "He  is  before  all  things,  and  by  Him  all  things 
consist."     Col.  L  17. 


THE   CKEED    AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  77 


The  One  God  cannot  be  received — hardly  conceived — 
as  a  mere  abstraction  of  force.  Force  is  something  that 
goes  forth,  and  is  opposed  to  and  by  all  response.  It  is 
therefore  cold,  unattractive,  and  even  repellent  to  the 
conscious  human  person.  He  may  submit  to  force,  if 
he  cannot  resist  it.  He  may  use  it,  when  he  may, 
to  attain  his  desires.  But  for  force  itself  no  man  has  a 
feeling  of  regard,  nor  can  he  have ;  and  yet  ihis  feeling 
of  regard  is  necessary  to  call  forth  that  earnestness,  upon 
which  depends  all  personal  satisfaction,  and  out  of  which 
flows  all  worthy  life  work. 

Nor  again  can  the  One  God  be  conceived  as  a  mere 
abstract  will.  Some  writers  indeed  have  attempted  to 
express  their  behef  in  an  abstract  will ;  and  have  en- 
deavored to  show  that  personaHty  is  a  product  or  attri- 
bute of  will.  Even  they  however  bear,  as  all  their  less 
radical  confreres  do,  unconscious,  or  at  least  unwilling, 
testimony  against  themselves.  If  will  were  the  source 
of  personality,  the  expressions  "I  will,"  "I  think"  etc., 
would  be  ludicrous  transpositions.  The  form  instead 
should  be,  "Will  I,"  "Will  think."  The  consciousness 
would  of  course  rest  in  the  concrete  whole,  and  not  in 
any  one  of  its  features ;  and  the  fact  that  the  person  is 
conscious  of  will,  and  not  the  will  conscious  of  person, 
shows  that  the  I  holds  the  will,  and  that  will  is  a  faculty 
of  person. 

It  is,  however,  the  most  prominent  and  very  distin- 


78       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

guishing  faculty  of  person.  Matter  follows  laws,  animals 
are  evidently  governed  by  instinct  and  impulse  witli 
little  if  any  mere,  dissevered,  will-power ;  but  man  knows, 
and  cannot  be  persuaded  out  of  the  conviction,  that  his 
will,  though  self-subject,  is  objectively  free,  and  is  the 
responsible  seat  of  his  outgoing  words  and  acts.  What 
he  says  or  does  unwillingly — i.  e.  without  the  near  or  re- 
mote, definite  or  contingent,  consent  or  assent  of  his  will 
— he  is  not  responsible  for.  What  he  does  willingly  is 
the  declaration,  and  manifestation  of  what  he  is,  in 
character  and  capacity. 

The  high  rank  held  by  the  will  in  the  constitution  of 
the  person,  and  the  governance  it  wields  over  the  other 
faculties — being  itself  subject  only  to  that  concrete  unit 
I — ,  makes*  it  the  chief  mark  and  sign  of  personality. 
Hence  when  we  look  on  outward  things,  whether  in 
whole  when  viewing  the  cosmos  or  in  part  when  viewing 
its  details  with  their  adaptations,  we  must  adopt  some 
notion  of  their  cause.  They  are  evidently  effects.  They 
cannot  have  been  self-caused,  for  that  is  simple  contra- 
diction. It  has  been  attempted,  but  never  with  success, 
to  express  the  idea  of  an  effect  which  was  its  own  cause. 
Not  one  cunning  master  of  style  ever  described  an  end- 
less self -enfolding  cycle,  that  would  account  for  existence 
without  the  First  Cause,  i.  e.  The  One  God.  This  one 
God,  being  the  person  of  Whom  every  person  is  a  type, 
cannot  be  in  Himself  less  than  his  own  creature.  Now, 
in  the  creature,  the  will  is  the  highest  faculty,  and  the 
first  subordinate  ruler  of  all  the  faculties ;  so  that  the 
distinctiveness  of  the  person,  and  the  essence  of  his 
character,  are  manifested  through  the  will's  operations. 
Hence  in  looking  through  His  manifestations,  by  word 
or  work,  the  creature  man  cannot  find  rest  or  confidence 
on  or  in  anything  less  that  One  Supreme  Will.     Given 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        70 

this  Will,  then  creation,  providence,  grace,  and  whatever 
else  the  consciously  material,  psychical,  spiritual  creature 
man  requires,  follows  on  in  linked  connection. 

Yet  we  do  not  project  our  likeness  out  and  upward  to 
the  Throne  of  The  Universe,  and  call  Him  God,  who  is 
only  a  perfected  human  conception.  There  is  not  con- 
sciousness of  such  proceeding  in  us ;  nor  does  the  his- 
tory of  the  belief  point  out  any  time  when  this  was 
done  by  man.  The  primary  idea  of  God  is  a  reception 
— commonly  called  an  intuition — not  a  construction. 
There  is  no  sense  of  outaction  in  us,  when  conceiving 
the  Divine  personality.  Conceiving  it,  with  all  men  of 
all  ages,  intuitively,  we  confess  it  spontaneously  ;  and  by 
that  confession  become  confirmed  in  the  conviction,  that 
the  highest  in  us, — the  comprehensive,  the  willing  I — 
is,  because  The  Supreme,  the  First  Cause,  God  is  One, 
Infinite,  L 

This  One,  Infinite,  I,  is  The  One,  Absolute  L  Logically 
the  One  Infinite  excludes  the  Finite,  and  the  One  Abso- 
lute excludes  the  relative.  Hence  logically  man  has  no 
existence.  If  we  were  pure  intellect,  we  should  rest 
here,  and  agree  that  rehgion  is  impossible,  because  a 
contradiction  stands  at  its  very  threshold.  But  know- 
ing that  I  am,  I  know  also  that  my  intellect,  as^  well  as 
that  of  all  men,  is  bounded  ;  and  therefore  conclude  that 
its  conception  of  the  Infinite  and  Absolute,  being  neces- 
sarily incomplete,  its  sentence  of  contradiction  amounts 
only  to  a  confession  of  incapacity  to  perceive  what  lies 
beyond  its  own  scope. 

Another  and  a  deeper  principle,  or  power,  or  faculty, 
or  all  combined,  is  in  me  and  in  every  human  person. 
We  may  call  it  affection,  and  locate  it  in  the  heart,  i.  e. 
in  that  known,  but  indefinable   centre   of  life-warmth, 


80  THE    CREED    AND    MODERN    THOTJGHT. 

wherein  character  is  begotten,  bom  and  bred.  To  its 
domain  belong  the  emotions  and  sensibilities.  Long- 
ings, yearnings  and  aspirations  are  its  outactions.  The 
senses  and  the  intellect  cognize  affection,  both  acting  on 
it  and  being  affected  by  it.  Through  affection,  acting  as 
both  power  and  receptive  faculty,  come  in  the  stabilities 
and  vagaries  of  beUef.  If  affection  were  all,  or  even  su- 
preme, these  stabilities  or  vagaries  would  have  authority. 
Every  person  then,  following  his  affection,  might  believe 
whatever  it  set  forth  ;  and  no  one  might  dispute  anoth- 
er's opinion.  Hence  every  person  would  be  his  own 
judge,  and  truth  could  have  neither  authorized  teacher 
nor  defender.  Thus  we  find  another  essential  part  of 
man,  when  taken  separate  and  divided  from  its  relation 
to  other  essential  parts,  leading  to  confusion.  As  the 
intellect,  alone,  is  confused  by  the  finite  and  The  Infinite, 
the  relative  and  The  Absolute ;  so  the  affections,  alone, 
discard  the  unity  of  truth,  as  too  h^rsh  and  severe  for 
its  sensibility. 

Yet  both  must  accept,  what  they  thus  recoil  from  ; 
because  both  can  fill  their  own  deepest  consciousness 
only  with  The  Infinite,  One.  As  "  The  SeM-existent " 
gives  the  intellect  a  perceptible,  though  incomprehensi- 
ble, basis;  so  also  "The  One,  All-sufficient"  can  only 
satisfy  the  affection.  This  One,  All-Sufficient,  cannot  be 
a  force.  Affection  cannot  attach  to  an  abstraction.  It 
loves.  Love  is  the  deepest  form  of  its  expression.  Love 
is  operative  only  between  persons.  The  affection  de- 
mands a  person,  as  The  One,  All-Sufficient. 

The  Senses  occupy  a  domain  distinct  from  both  affec- 
tion and  intellect.  They  are  however  closely  allied  to 
both.  All  act  reciprocally,  sometimes  in  harmony,  and 
sometimes  at  variance,  or  even  in  conflict.     The  Body  is 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       81 

the  seat  and  instrument  of  the  senses.  Form  is  insepa- 
rable from  the  idea  of  personal  human  existence.  In- 
deed it  enters  even  into  any  conception,  that  can  be 
defined  or  delineated  of  God.  Substance  is  that  in 
which  body  takes  or  is  given  form,  and  through  which 
it  is  made  manifest.  The  body— living  on  earth — is  in- 
separable from  material ;  though  any  or  all  parts  of  the 
material  may  be  successively  thrown  off,  and  other  or 
even  the  same  particles  reassimilated.  Whatever  the 
real  essence  of  body  may  be,  we  only  know  it  through 
manifestation :  and  yet  we  are  capable  of  an  abstract 
idea  of  a  formal  power  or  principle,  that,  existing  in 
man,  enables  him  to  take  up  and  throw  off  earthy  mat- 
ter, and  yet  never  sever  the  unity  of  his  own  manifest 
identity  or  conscious  oneness.  Matter,  in  organic  union 
with  his  parts  and  members,  he  calls  his  body  to-day ; 
although  to-morrow  he  may  tread  particles  of  that  very 
matter  as  dust  under  his  feet.  From  the  cradle  to  the 
grave  man  says  "My  Body,"  with  complete  conviction 
that  from  first  to  last  he  has,  has  had,  and  will  have  only 
one,  essentially  identical,  same  material  manifestation. 

It  is  perfectly  easy  to  carry,  in  thought  and  belief,  this 
conception  of  form  out  and  beyond  the  earth.  Yet  it  is 
only  possible  to  hold  this  conception  in  connection  with 
substance.  Spiritual  substance,  however,  is  conceivable 
and  as  satisfactory  to  thought,  as  earthy  material. 
Hence  there  is  no  difficulty  in  conveying,  to  the  sim- 
plest and  youngest  human  creature,  the  idea  of  his  own 
very  body  translated  to  a  region  of  spirit,  and  there 
clothing  itself,  or  being  clothed,  with  immortal,  ethereal, 
spiritual  substance.  Personal  identity  leaps  without 
difficulty  the  chasm  of  death  ;  and  nothing  is  easier 
than  to  conceive  of  the  same  "I,"  dwelling  here  in 
changing  matter  and  there  in  immortal  spirit.  Sub- 
4* 


82       THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

stance  includes  botli ;  and  the  body,  both  here  and 
there,  never  exists  out  of  substance.  Though  distin- 
guishable in  idea  and  terms ;  form  and  substance,  both 
here  and  there,  are  practically  inseparable. 

As  below  us  on  earth  we  perceive  bodies  not  human, 
"whose  substance  is  earth,  like  our  own  ;  so  we  can  easily 
conceive  and  think  of  creatures,  not  human,  above  us, 
who  have  each  his  own  body,  manifested  in  spiritual 
substance.  The  perpetual  identity  of  every  one  of  these 
spirits,  is  as  easy  to  conceive  as  that  of  our  own  ;  and 
the  perpetuity  of  spiritual  substance,  is  as  indubitable 
as  the  indestructibility  of  matter.  How  the  individual 
spirit  stands  related  to  the  whole  of  the  spiritual  sub- 
stance, or  whether  it  bears  any  such  relation  as  man  to 
all  matter,  we  need  not  investigate  ;  nor  need  we  inquire 
what  power  over  form  and  its  changes,  the  individual 
spirit  above  may  be  allowed. 

What  we  have  thus  treated  as  possible  in  conception, 
is  in  fact  actual  according  to  common  behef.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  do  more,  than  assert  the  common 
belief  of  mankind  in  the  existence  of  spiritual  ]3ersons. 
The  exceptions,  if  they  exist,  are  so  few,  and  so  easily 
accounted  for,  that  only  a  curious  subtlety  would  be 
gratified,  and  much  time  and  labor  misapplied,  in  search- 
ing through  their  details.  It  is  certainly  not  necessary 
to  turn  aside  now,  for  such  exploitations.  Most  men  do 
and  all  easily  may  believe  in  spirits,  living  an  individual 
life  of  immortality,  either  above  or  below,  in  good  or  in 
evil,  wherever  the  spiritual  domain  reaches. 

The  idea  of  form  is  however  not  yet  exhausted.  Begin- 
ning at  the  lowest,  organic,  earthly  body,  ascending 
through  humanity,  and  coming  out  into  the  habitation  of 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        S3 

spirits;  it  remains  yet  unfilled,  and  unsatisfied.  Wlierever 
it  came  from,  and  however  we  received  it,  there  is  in  all 
mankind  capacity  to  conceive,  and  in  most,  to  believe  in 
Divine  Substance,  superior  to  matter  and  spirit,  which 
consists  in  Divine  Personality.  These  two  are  distin- 
guishable in  thought,  but  indivisible  in  fact.  Though 
we  may  not  analyze  the  indivisible,  we  may  take  the  dis- 
tinction to  ourselves,  as  assurance  and  confirmation  of  that 
which  is  essential  to  all  stability  of  hope,  viz.  :  that  The 
Supreme,  is  personal ;  apart  from  His  work,  yet  like  us, 
and  so  approachable.  The  mode  of  the  union  of  His 
person  with  the  indivisible  divine  substance  need  not 
draw  our  attention,  because  it  lies  beyond  our  capaci- 
ties. BeHeving,  we  simply  leave  His  own  to  God  ;  Who 
alone  is,  and  should  be  confessed,  exclusively  self-com- 
prehensible. 

It  is  vain  for  modem  thought  to  deny  the  human 
capacity  to  thus  cognize  a  personal  God.  The  Positivists 
indeed  are  quite  remarkable  for  their  way  of  meeting 
and  putting  aside  this  matter.  They  are  constantly,  even 
in  their  own  investigations,  coming  out  face  to  face  with 
the  fact  of  a  Creator  and  Presenter  of  the  Universe  ;  and 
their  sole,  common,  ever-reiterated  remark  is,  "  We  de- 
cline to  consider  that  point :  because  we  have  no  facul- 
ties capable  of  perceiving  God."  Children  shut  their 
eyes  sometimes,  and  then  they  say  they  can't  see.  Men 
are  very  often  like  children. 

We  can  cognize,  and  every  man  knows  that  he  can 
cognize,  that  is  think  of,  and  conceive  ideas  about,  God. 
Hence  every  man  can  obtain  knowledge  about  Him. 
The  repetition  of  the  old  assertion  that  we  cannot  com- 
prehend Him,  wiU  sometimes  come  up  in  this  stage  of 
argument ;  but  it  yet  avails  nothing.  The  confusion  be- 
tween comprehension  and  apprehension,  was  probably  as 


84:  THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

old  as  the  time  of  S.  Paul.  It  never  yet  lias  left  human 
philosophy.  Christians  however  make  the  distinction, 
ever  have  made  it,  and  ever  miist  make  it.  "VVe  do  not 
pretend  to  encompass  the  Infinite,  nor  to  know  com- 
pletely the  Absolute  ;  but  we  do  claim  the  power  and  the 
fact  of  such  apprehension,  as  enables  us  to  know  Him,  to 
the  full  extent  of  our  capacities.  "  Not  as  though  I  had 
already  attained,  either  were  already  perfect,  but  I  follow 
after,  if  that  I  may  apprehend."    Phil,  IH.  12. 

The  hne  of  thought,  that  has  been  now  followed  under 
the  terms  "  inteEect,  affection,  and  form,"  might  as  well 
have  been  followed  under  the  terms  "soul,  spirit,  and 
body.**  The  end  would  have  been  the  same.  Now  at 
last  we  stand,  having  the  tripartite  witness  of  human 
nature  to  the  existence  of  one  God,  with  all  that  is  in 
man  also  gravitating  towards  Him,  crying  after  Him, 
searching  for  Him,  and  iiTepressibly  demanding  Him  as 
the  prime,  midst  and  final  need  of  every  creature. 

In  the  fulness  of  his  best  powers,  and  in  the  depth  of 
his  strongest,  purest  necessities  Man  cries  out  for  God, 
and  God  surely  answers  him.  Tliat  answer  will  not,  aye, 
cannot  narrow  nor  cramp  humanity.  God  must  fill  the 
deepest  depth  of  humanity,  and  satisfy  its  loftiest  hopes^ 
Body  soul  and  spirit  must  rest  in  Him,  and  be  satisfied. 
The  First  Cause,  The  Central  Life  of  Love,  The  One 
Supreme,  are  included  in  the  distinct  and  yet  commingled 
Divine  Idea,  which  man,  as  body,  soul  and  spirit,  con- 
ceives :  but  the  central  human  person,  the  conscious  I 
combines  all,  and  demands  "My  God."  Personal  rela- 
tionship to  God,  in  all  fulness  and  all  possible  details 
is  desired,  longed  for,  needed,  even  demanded  with 
yearning  by  mankind.  Man  must  come  nearer  to  God, 
than  his  mind  can  say,  his  heart  express,  or  his  sens© 


THE    CREED    AKD   MODERN    THOUGHT.  85 

conceive.  In  the  fulness  of  liis  yearning  personality,  he 
must,  to  be  satisfied,  draw  nigh  to  God. 

The  name,  Father,  satisfies  this  necessity.  "We  need 
not  ask  whence  this  name  came  to  be  applied  to  God. 
Man,  conscious  of  his  complex  constitution,  and  looking 
into  the  living  depth  of  his  self-need  and  capacity,  encom- 
passes and  outreaches  the  region  of  mere  history,  and 
mere  logic.  The  living,  feeling,  yearning,  complete  man 
leaps  at  the  thought  of  God  as  The  Father,  and  finds,  in 
His  Fatherhood,  satisfaction  through  all  the  breadth  and 
length  and  depth  and  height  of  his  own  mysterious,  per- 
sonal entity. 

This  language  the  mere  intellect  cannot  comprehend. 
God — Who,  as  Father,  pours,  thro'  all  his  creatures'  na- 
ture, the  substance  of  hfe  and  joy — cannot  be  compre- 
hended by  that  creature,  even  when  using  aU  his  powers  ; 
much  less  can  any  one  faculty  of  the  creature  encompass 
Him,  from  Whom  it  came.  And  yet  the  intellect,  with 
aU  its  various  powers  of  intuition,  induction,  analysis, 
combination,  and  whatever  else  may  be  assigned  to  its 
domain,  is  expanded,  enriched,  and  enfranchised  more 
and  more,  as  it  studies  God's  Fatherhood.  Only  when 
it  cuts  itself  loose  from  the  other  parts  of  human  nature, 
does  it  begin  to  swell  with  pride,  and  rise  by  conse- 
quently diminished  specific  gravity  from  the  hard  ground 
of  fact,  to  float  hke  a  balloon  towards  or  into  the  region 
of  attenuated  air,  amid  cold,  in  a  meretricious  light, 
where  objects  above  and  objects  below  are  too  remote  to 
be  discerned.  Multitudes  may  gaze  with  wonder  after 
aeronauts,  and  they  themselves  for  a  time  may  enjoy  the 
novelty  of  new  sights  and  sensations  ;  but,  if  their  buoy- 
ancy is  caused  only  by  self-inflation,  their  collapse  and 
fall  are  inevitable,  while  their  short  flight  may  not  be,  to 
themselves  even,  satisfactoiy  as  an  exaltation.    Pure  mind, 


86  THE   CREED    AND    MODERN    THOUGHT. 

indulging  itself  in  mere  speculation,  has  shown  results 
that  challenge  admiration.  Theories  about  existence 
have  been  broached  by  the  lone-intellect,  which  have  a 
kind  of  logic  in  them,  with  much  accumulated  fact  around 
them.  Every  one,  who  knows  the  flavor  of  intellectual 
pabulum,  will  be  willing  to  confess  that  it  is  stimulating 
and  sweet.  Only  the^^,  who  know  little  or  nothing  of  it, 
condemn  it  wholly,  as  if  it  were  distilled  over  the  fires 
of  the  Pit,  and  condensed  in  the  dark  caverns  of  human 
pride  and  self-will.  Intellect  is  too  grand,  too  strong,  too 
patient,  too  rich,  too  powerful,  too  evidently  celestial  in 
origin,  to  be  condemned  by  truth,  and  shut  out  from  con- 
sideration in  viewing  God's  Fatherhood.  It  is  part  of 
man,  and  must  therefore  be  filled  full  by  God,  The  Father. 
When  man,  in  his  completeness,  calls  on  God,  the  answer 
will  fill  all  his  capacities  and  powers,  full. 

Not  a  word  therefore  against  searching,  or  even  criti- 
cal investigation  !  Every  fair  field  be  open  to  it,  and  all 
encouragement  given  !  But,  for  the  sake  of  common 
sense,  let  not  a  part  assume  the  functions  of  the  whole. 
Let  not  mind  alone  act  and  think,  and  dogmatize,  or  with 
cold  indifference  set  forth  its  facts,  deductions  and  con- 
clusions, as  if  it  were  all  of  man,  or  as  if  it  were  the 
supreme  autocrat,  to  which  complex  man  should  submit, 
with  all  his  other  faculties  ignored,  or  enslaved. 

Surely  these  affections  of  ours,  in  which  lie  that  mys- 
terious longing  of  love — deexDer  than  mind  or  even  will, 
though  pervading  and  reacting  with  both — must  have 
voice  in  determining  the  true  and  the  good.  There  is  a 
deep  "sense,"  in  all  men,  that  cognizes  goodness  and 
truth.  With  greater  or  less  willingness,  all  confess  its 
existence  ;  and  consciously  or  unconsciously  evince  their 
assurance  of  the  actual,  objective  operation  of  truth,  and 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        87 

of  its  eternal  coincidence  with  good.  And  yet  what  in- 
tellect has  ever  encompassed  truth,  or  even  defined  it  ex- 
cept negatively  ;  and  where  has  goodness  been  measured 
or  analyzed  !  Some  part  or  faculty  of  every  man,  how- 
ever, apprehends  truth  and  goodness  ;  and  this  part  may 
fairly  be  called  the  affections.  If  a  faculty  it  perceives 
and  knows  with  deeper  than  intellectual  apprehension, 
and  more  than  the  conviction  from  mental  demonstra- 
tion. If  not  a  faculty  it  is  perhaps  that  substratum 
which  bears,  to  the  various  manifestations  of  personal 
identity,  a  relation  similar  to  that  of  substance  to  acci- 
dents. It  is  distinct  from  intellect,  sensibility  or  will, 
and  yet  so  pervades  them  all,  that  neither  can  act  without 
either  its  impulse  or  cooperation.  It  is  the  living  centre 
of  satisfaction.  When  filled  full,  the  whole  man  is  fuU. 
With  affection  at  rest,  contentment  flows  over  the  whole 
person.  The  faculties,  that  are  not  already  full,  have 
their  yearnings  stiUed,  either  by  the  assurance  of  faith  or 
the  comfort  of  hope. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  reply  to  those,  who  say  that  the 
affections  are  as  variable  as  the  inconstant  winds,  and  as 
unsafe  to  build  upon  as  the  incoherent  sands.  All  this 
is  allowed,  yet  the  ground  of  this  ai'gument  remains  un- 
touched. The  apparent  manifestations  of  affection,  are 
not  now  in  view.  Though  aU  men  differ,  and  every  man 
be  inconsistent,  so  that  we  may  not  be  sui*e  what  form 
of  expression  may  be  adopted,  in  any  given  case,  for  be- 
lief in  goodness  and  truth  :  though  we  may  not  know 
what  deity  may  call  out  the  devotion  of  any  distinct 
class  of  worshippers ;  yet  this  all  coincide  in  declaring, 
viz.  that  truth  and  goodness  exist,  are  absolute,  outside 
of  every  man  and  all  creation,  self-existent  and  almighty. 

Love  is  one  of  the  manifestations  of  affection.  In- 
deed, love  is  the  highest  faculty  in  man.     It  may  dwell 


8S       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

with  its  opposite  in  the  substratum  of  human  entity.  It 
may  flee  away  and  hide  itself  in  fear,  or  grief,  or  shame  ; 
but  its  secret  chamber  is  amid  the  most  inner  recesses 
of  the  soul,  and  its  queenly  authority  is  cheerfully  ac- 
knowledged by  the  peaceful,  and  confessed  with  greater 
or  less  willingness  by  all.  Now  love  cannot  rest  in  the 
merely  abstract.  The  abstract  good  and  true,  to  it,  are 
mist-like,  frosty  and  unsatisfactory.  Even  when  the 
beautiful  is  added  to  them,  and  their  triune  concomitance 
is  shown  through  whatever  wealth  of  illustration  or  felic- 
ity of  description,  still  love  remains  unsatisfied.  It  cannot 
clasp  an  abstraction.  Its  vitality  operates,  not  in  receiv- 
ing only  but  in  giving.  It  must  bestow  itself,  as  well  as 
receive  into  itself.  Eesponse  is  essential  to  its  exist- 
ence. Now  response  is  impossible  between  a  person  and 
an  abstraction.  It  is  no  help  to  declare  that  abstraction 
to  be  the  perfection  of  tinith,  goodness  and  beauty  com- 
bined. Love  may  plunge  into  an  ocean,  but  not  live 
therein  satisfied  with  bathing  forever.  Its  intense  con- 
sciousness of  personality  abhors  annihilation  ;  and,  with 
hardly  less  intensity,  abhors  disintegration.  Man,  con- 
scious of  the  power  of  love,  must  be  less  than  he  knows 
and  feels  himself  to  be,  if  he  can  rest  in  any  other  view 
of  God  ;  than  as  a  person,  who  can  hear  and  answer,  re- 
ceive and  give,  respond  and  be  responded  to,  through 
all  conscious  human  needs,  by  and  with  every  definite 
and  indefinite,  assured  human  power. 

Given  however  God  a  person,  and  God  a  Father,  and 
all  man's  nature  is  satisfied.  The  relationship  will  sati- 
ate and  yet  outcompass  his  understanding.  Even  his 
imagination,  painting  to  weariness,  will  fail  adequately  to 
picture  it.  But  the  heart,  with  its  love-facult}",  can  take 
hold  of  it,  and  find  responsive  reaction  from  it ;  by  which 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        89 

all  the  person — illumined  and  warmed — shall  be  exalted, 
suffused,  invigorated,  and  enlarged.  The  assurance  of 
faith  and  comfort  of  hope  will  follow,  not  enslaving  but 
enfranchising,  by  giving  all  the  man,  in  his  unity,  rest 
in  Him,  "  One  God  The  Father  "  Who  is  love. 

The  Creed,  in  setting  forth  God,  as  The  Fathee,  im- 
poses not  a  hard  dogma  upon  us.  It  simply  presents  a 
fact,  which  harmonizes  with  all  the  deepest  powers,  and 
best  dispositions  within  us.  Let  its  presentation  be 
pictured,  side  by  side,  with  that  of  the  other  gods  men 
have  invented!  Let  it  stand  out  before  the  idols  of 
superstition  !  Compare  it  with  the  attenuated  cirrus-like 
theories  of  philosophy !  Which  shall  man  choose  ? 
Which  most  fully  and  truly  responds  to  all  his  conscious- 
ness? Which  presents  least  difficulties  to  the  mind? 
What  other  one  even  pretends  to  satisfy  the  yearnings, 
the  longings,  and  the  aspirations  of  every  man's  heai*t 
and  of  all  human  hearts  ? 

However  disposed  towards  the  conclusion  that  follows  ; 
surely  no  true  and  just  person,  with  intelUgence  un^ 
clouded,  will  refuse  to  acknowledge,  as  compared  mth 
any  other  doctrine  about  God,  that  this  of  His  Father- 
hood is  the  most  satisfactory  to  the  whole  of  any  man, 
and  to  all  parts  in  every  man. 

It  is  not  yet  time  to  adduce  the  objective  proofs  that 
God  is  The  Father.  The  Creed  opens  with  assertion. 
It  is  however  so  arranged,  that  its  progressive  steps  rest 
upon  its  opening  ;  or  rather  gTOW  up  out  of  it  as  from  a 
root.  Man's  personal  identity,  and  common  unity,  fol- 
lowing out  not  arbitrary  choice,  but  the  universal  neces- 
sity of  belief,  comes  first  on  God.  Finding  Him  a  Father, 
man  is  filled  and  satisfied.  WTiatever  may  come  after, 
this  at  least  is  a  broad  foundation  fact,  on  which  every 
human   creatui-e  may  stand  in  company  with  all  hu- 


90       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

manity.  Death  and  life,  time  and  eternity,  the  seen  and 
the  unseen,  all  that  man  knows  or  conceives  or  fears  or 
hopes,  are  encompassed  by  God,  The  Father.  He  sur- 
rounds them  all,  not  only  with  light,  and  power,  and 
love,  but  with  Himself  also. 

Hence,  whoever  says  sincerely  "  I,  We  believe  in  God, 
The  Father,"  not  only  repeats  the  belief,  which  has 
come  down  from  the  earliest  days  of  man's  appearance 
on  the  earth  ;  but  gives  utterance  to  the  highest  aspira- 
tions and  deepest  conscious  necessities  of  humanity  in 
its  best  estate.  That  best  estate,  alas !  we  do  not  all 
abide  in  now  ;  but  the  essence  of  our  being  is  yet  un- 
destroyed,  and  therefore  we  know  what  is  best,  and  may 
desire  it.  Most  certainly  we  confess  it,  when,  mid  the 
common-praise  of  The  Ages,  we  uplift  our  voices  and 
declare  ourselves  in  the  ranks  of  that  succession,  which 
from  time's  beginning  to  its  end  bears  witness  to  the 
beauty,  the  goodness,  and  the  truth,  aye !  even  to  the 
veritably  real,  personal,  present  existence,  of  God  The 
Fati 


No  dogmatism  yet !  No  imposition  yet,  on  willing  or 
unwilling  men,  of  a  mere  formula  of  belief,  resting  solely 
upon  a  threatening  word  of  power !  In  one  sense  the 
whole  Creed  is  dogmatic.  It  assumes  the  unity  of  ab- 
solute truth.  So  long,  however,  as  it  presents  its  facts 
to  man,  so  as  to  call  forth  and  satisfy  all  that  is  in  him 
of  purity  and  power,  it  cannot  be  charged  offensively 
with  the  assertion  of  dogma.  It  does  not  leave  us  free 
to  choose  between  its  declarations,  and  some  other  form 
of  truth  ;  for  that  would  be  the  worst  cruelty  that  could 
be  inflicted  on  us.  It  would  be  equivalent  to  allowing 
that  truth  is  relative  and  changeable,  not  absolute  and 
unswerving :  and  then  we  should  lose  God,  Heaven,  and 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 


91 


Hope,  for  nothing  would  remain  but  man  the  maker  of 
his  own  truth,  the  supporter  of  his  own  fortunes,  and  the 
ultimate  refuge  of  his  own  longings. 

In  escaping  fi'om  self-dependence,  and  from  the  in- 
sufficiencies of  his  present  estate,  man  meets  The  Creed 
with  its  refuge  of  facts.  If  facts  are  too  dogmatic  for 
him,  then,  alas  !  not  only  The  Creed  is  not  for  him,  but 
all,  that  can  be  his  is  Nothing ;  for  only  Nothing  is  in 
that  sense  undogmatic. 

Free  therefore,  in  respect  to  all  human  attainments  or 
conditions  ;  joyful,  in  the  full  outactidn  of  every  power 
that  flows  from  all  his  faculties  ;  and,  restful  through  the 
serene  inversion  of  every  longing  on  all  his  capacities  ; 
man  may,  and  if  true  to  himself,  must  say,  "  I,  We  be- 
lieve in  One  God,  The  Fathek."  My  Father  !  Therefore 
I  and  We  are  His  beloved  children.  "  Children,  then 
heirs."  Heirs,  not  of  an  estate  left  by  Him,  but  of  one 
in  which  He  remains  its  central  light,  and  life. 


92  THE    CKEED   AND   MODEKN   TIIOTIGHT. 


2llmtgl]trj. 

First  Father,  then  Almiglity,  Doer  of  all  things  !  This 
ability  to  do  all  things  comes,  most  distinctly  into  our 
minds,  as  a  negative  fact  or  proposition.  We  understand 
it  best,  at  least  primarily,  as  superiority  over  and  ex- 
emption from  necessity,  condition  or  relation.  There  is 
nothing  that  the  Almighty  cannot  do.  He  is  above  all  con- 
ditions. He  is  untrammelled  by  any  relations.  The  limit 
— not  imposed,  but  self-determined — in  this  direction, 
is  consistency  :  *'  He  cannot  deny  Himself  " — i.  e.  coun- 
teract His  own  acts  or  laws  ;  "  He  cannot  lie  " — i.  e.  His 
word  is  the  utterance  of  His  will,  involving  the  outgoing 
of  His  power,  the  expression  or  outaction  of  His  essence 
of  truth  and  love,  and  the  fulness  of  His  person  in  oper- 
ation. 

As  our  heart's  wisdom  accepts  God's  fatherhood  for 
the  necessary,  and  only  complete  satisfaction  to  affection 
— that  under-stratum,  perhaps  germ,  of  human  nature; — • 
so  the  mind  rests  on  His  Omnipotence.  Neither  heart, 
nor  mind  takes  either  aspect  for  its  sole  study  and  de- 
light. Both  rest  on  God,  One  throughout  all  His  mani- 
festations. "We  are  conscious  however  of  a  colder,  and 
dialectic  operation,  when  considering  Him  as  the 
Almighty. 

God's  unity,  love,  power,  wisdom  involve  the  fact,  and 
hence  the  necessity  of  believing,  that  nothing  is  beyond 
His  power ;  and  by  consequence  nothing  beyond  His 
ken.    He  is  the  Omniscient,  because  He  is  the  Almighty. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.        93 

No  boundaries  can  shut  in  The  Almighty  ;  He  is  there- 
fore Infinite ;  therefore  also  Omnipresent,  not  solely 
pervading  but  encompassing  all,  holding  all  present  to 
Himself. 

The  converse,  of  any  one  of  these  facts,  must  be  con- 
trary to  the  truth.  If  any  one  of  them  were  not,  then, 
through  that  one  defect,  all  mankind  and  all  the  universe 
might  slide  to  destruction.  The  mind  of  man  cannot 
conceive  of  a  defect  in  God.     It  must  hold  Him  perfect. 

And  yet  when  we  attempt  to  grasp,  and  bound,  and 
define  The  Almighty  ;  we  come  at  once  to  the  outer  Hmit 
of  our  powers.  We  say.  Able  to  do  all  things  ;  Uncon- 
ditioned ;  Infinite  ;  Absolute ;  everywhere  present,  i.  e. 
all-pervading,  all-encompassing ;  The  Almighty.  But 
what  definite  conception  do  these  words  convey,  to  the 
finite  mind  of  the  unrivalled  among  creatures,  yet  com- 
paratively lowly,  object-man?  He  stands  under  the 
vastness  of  God,  however,  both  undismayed  and  uncon- 
fused.  He  lifts  up  eye  and  ear  and  front ;  and  boldly, 
with  due  humility  and  reverence,  speaks  before  God  ; 
somewhat  thus  :  '  Though  I  comprehend  not  God,  I  per- 
ceive, and  know  and  consciously  commune  with  Him. 
He  is  incomparable,  and  I  am  satisfied,  with  being  filled 
by  Him,  through  all  my  capacities.  Moreover,  though 
I  cannot  express  more  than  my  present  capacities  hold, 
or  conscious  powers  encompass,  yet  I  rest  in  the  assur- 
ance that,  however  they  may  be  expanded,  God  will 
remain  still  fiUing,  out-measuring,  pervading  and  over- 
arching, them  all.  Moreover  not  only  I,  with  my  facul- 
ties and  powers,  but  all  other  creatures  with  all  theirs, 
amid  any  or  all  conditions,  may  ever  approach  but  never 
reach,  much  less  encompass  or  comprehend  The  Infinite. 
Therefore,  "I,  We  beheve  in  The  Almighty.'" 

The  old  Greek  form  of  the  Creed  conveys  a  more  defi- 


94:       THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

nite  and  practical  meaning  than  the  English,  or  even 
than  the  Latin.  HavroKpaTopa,  The  Pantocrat,  The  All- 
ruler,  is  indeed  none  other  than  the  Omnipotens,  the  Al- 
mighty ;  but  He  is  the  Almighty  Person,  who  puts 
forth  omnipotence  through  the  wiU  of  a  distinct,  oper- 
ating ruler.  In  this  respect  the  Creed  is  very  clear  and 
very  strong.  It  never  deals  in  mere  abstractions.  Men 
attempt  to  deal  in  abstractions.  The  philosophers  of  all 
ages  have  argued,  and  discoursed,  as  if  they  could  grasp 
abstractions.  Some  of  the  oriental  religions  teach  that 
it  is  possible  to  attain  abstract  conceptions ;  and  that 
the  highest  aspiration,  worthy  the  most  advanced  of  men, 
is  to  attain  the  Nirvana,  which  is  the  perfection  of  ab- 
straction. Now,  whether  it  appear  in  Buddhism  or 
Modern  Philosophy,  this  claim  to  abstract  perceptions 
and  abstract  attainment,  is  surely  one  of  the  vanities  of 
human  wisdom.  The  Buddhists  are  at  least  consistent, 
•for  they  describe  their  "nirvana"  as  such  entire  escape 
from  personal  perception,  the  I,  that  all  consciousness  is 
absorbed  in  the  one,  indefinite,  indivisible,  unit-con- 
sciousness of  The  All.  Modern  Philosophers  rush  round 
the  circles,  that  rise  up  from  this  bottomless-pit  of  ab- 
surdity like  the  gradations  in  Dante's  Inferno,  not  seem- 
ing to  know,  and  yet  unwilling  to  learn,  that  it  matters 
little  what  stage  of  abstraction  they  may  endeavor  to 
stand  upon,  all  are  alike  abhorrent  to  nature,  and  equally 
impracticable  for  man's  restful  satisfaction,  and  assui'- 
ance  of  hope. 

■  -An  abstract  almighty,  may  be  partially  conceived. 
From  this  partial  conception,  a  practical  evil  may  flow. 
The  undevout  among  the  philosophers  are — some  avow- 
edly and  some  indifferently — attempting  to  produce  the 
practical  conclusion  that  almightiness  is  "the  necessity 
of  things,"  or  "the   law  of  the  universe,"  or  "the   aU- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       95 

jprevalent  force,"  or  "the  mere  correlation  between  sub- 
ject and  object,  the  order  between  media  and  environ- 
ments." As  philosophical  statements,  all  these  pale 
before  the  grim  consistency  of  the  Nirvana :  but  as 
practical  notions,  working  out  in  the  words  and  actions 
of  men,  constituting  character,  and  weaving  destiny 
both  in  this  world  and  the  next,  they  put  the  person  of 
God  out  of  sight,  and  conveniently  ignore  personal  re- 
sponsibility to  Him. 

The  Old  Creed  however  leaves  no  such  opportunity 
for  mental  stultification,  and  moral  self-deception  or  in- 
sensibility. Its  Almighty  cannot  be  mistaken  for  an  ab- 
straction of  power  and  might,  working  resistlessly  in 
darkness,  and  grinding  out  men,  with  their  religions  and 
civilizations  into  a  vast  heap  of  historic  dust,  and  then 
kneading  them  over  again  forever,  in  never-ceasing 
unions  and  disunions  of  atoms. 

The  conscious  person,  man,  abhorring,  repelling  and 
rejecting  a  Supreme  Abstraction,  knows  himself  to  be  a 
ruler.  His  owa  constituents,  including  bodily  matter 
and  functions,  sensibilities  and  powers  of  soul,  capacities 
and  yearnings  of  spirit,  are  evidently  not  his  superiors, 
but  his  subjects.  He  struggles  indeed  with  and  among 
them  all.  Mysterious  influences,  also,  which  for  aught 
he  can  by  himself  discover  may  be  unseen  persons  of 
angels  or  demons,  operate  upon  him  within  and  coop- 
erate with  or  counteract  him  without.  Yet  he  knows 
himself  as  an  entity ;  not  comprised  in  any  of  his  con- 
stituents, nor  composed  of  or  by  them  all ;  nor  yet  again 
irresistibly  subjected  to  outward  influences  or  persons. 
The  Almighty  is,  also,  in  person,  distinct  from  himself ; 
with  whom  indeed  he  may  treat,  with  full  preservation 
of  his  conscious  manliness,  but  Who  may  not  force  him 
resistlessly   to   either   good   or  evil ;   for  without  fi-ee 


96       THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

choice,  he  can  no  longer  be  manly  and  real,  true  and  no 
lie. 

This  Kparoyp,  rulerman,  looks  into  himself  and  out  of 
himself,  without  seeing  his  own  ruler  ;  and  yet  he  knows 
that  he  is  not  his  own  creator  and  preserver ;  as  before  he 
has  known  that  he  is  not  the  creature  of  abstract  force 
or  law,  nor  the  mere  present  fortuitous  emanation  of 
concurrent  media  and  environment.  Knowing  himself 
a  ruler,  and  yet  finite,  his  self-insufficience  leaves  him  in 
unrest.  Philosophy  mocks  him  with  abstractions,  and 
he  scorns  it.  He  is  perpetually  inquiring,  if  the  philoso- 
phers themselves  really  believe  in  a  Supreme  Abstrac- 
tion. He  cannot  find  that  they  agree  together  in  their 
own  definitions.  He  cannot  form  a  definite  conception, 
from  any  or  all  their  definitions.  He  wonders  if,  when 
they  look  in  each  other's  faces,  they  laugh ;  as  the  old 
Koman  Augurs,  it  is  said,  must  have  done. 

The  KpoLTOip,  creature,  man,  may  recognize  and  acknowl- 
edge a  TravroKpoLTtop,  all-ruler,  God.  In  this  recognition 
he  none  the  less  adheres  to  his  own  ruling  position. 
This  acknowledgment  involves  not  any  derogation  of 
manliness.  A  king  indeed  may  not,  without  debase- 
ment, submit  to  another  who  is  only  a  king  among 
kings;  but  under  the  One,  necessary  "King  of  kings," 
he  falls  into  his  relative  royal  position.  So  man,  the 
ruler  of  himself  and  his  surroundings,  may  have  his  own 
position  assured,  strengthened,  and  enlarged  by,  and 
only  by,  due  subserviency  to  the  Pantocrat,  the  All-ruler. 

In  setting  forth  the  Pantocrat,  the  Creed  shows  it- 
self true  to  humanity.  The  appetites,  mind  and  heart, 
the  body,  soul  and  spirit  of  the  concrete,  unit,  person, 
man,  finds  in  the  Creed,  what  mere  philosophy  cannot 
show  him.  With  all  that  he  is,  and  all  that  he  can  con- 
ceive possible,  with  his  dear  personality  intact,  with  his 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       97 

freedom  undiminished,  and  Lis  manliness  whole,  untar- 
nished and  yigorous,  he  may  bow  in  loving  reverence 
before  God,  and  receive  from  his  Liege  that  patent  which 
explains,  confirms,  and  assures  his  rank  as  a  royal  per- 
son in  the  Universe. 
5 


98       THE  CREED  AND  MODEKN  THOrGHT. 


Maktv    of   i^camn,   aiA    (ffavtl)   antf  of  3111 
(^I)ing0  toislbk   anb  JFnt)lslblc. 

The  idea  of  creation  cannot  be  eliminated  from  that 
of  existence.  Even  if  it  could  be  proved  that  the  uni- 
verse is  a  mere  evolution  from  a  primordial  germ,  that 
germ  would  require  creation.  Should  the  very  farthest 
conception  of  the  possible  origin  of  objective  existence 
be  found  in  an  indivisible,  unorganized,  simple  atom  ; 
that  atom  would  involve  creation  ;  and  its  further  evo- 
lution would  require  creation  of  adequate  environments. 
Or  if  evolution  were  potentially  in  this  conceivable  pri- 
mordial atom,  that  would  have  to  be  accounted  for.  It 
must  either  be  self-caused,  and  self-sustaining,  equal  to 
all  possibilities,  therefore  omniscient,  omnipotent,  omni- 
present, i.e.  God  ;  or  else  it  must  have  been  created  by 
the  omniscient,  omnipotent,  omnipresent  God. 

These  points  are  self-evident.  Though  some  persons 
think  they  can  conceive  of  an  abstract  force,  containing 
potentially  all  divine  characteristics,  and  hence  rest  their 
"cosmical  conceptions"  upon  this  abstract  force,  yet 
they  cannot  demonstrate  its  existence  ;  nor  indeed  prove 
its  existence  in  any  way.  Every  attempt  at  such  proof 
can  only  be  made  by  comparing  it  with  all  existence, 
and  its  requirements.  Before  it  can  be  even  probable, 
it  must  be  shown  adequate  to  all  existence ;  and  this 
without  any  break  of  continuity,  or  any  inconsistency  in 
23rinciple.  Even  then  any  other  theory,  equally  well 
sustained,  would  have  equal  probability. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       99 

In  point  of  fact,  however,  any  mere  law  of  existence, 
if  conceived  as  the  universal,  evolute  force,  must  also  be 
conceived  as  operative  without  design,  without  intention, 
and  without  vnll.  Personality,  the  conscious  I,  the  ob- 
served Thou  and  He,  could  have  no  place  in  the  self- 
evolute  universe.  Its  existence  is  a  denial  of  supreme 
self-evolute  force  ;  for  every  force  is  essentially  incapable 
of  evolving  what  is  not  even  germinal  in  itself,  and  es- 
pecially is  it  incapable  of  evolving  its  own  contradiction. 

If  it  be  answered  that  the  conscious  j^erson,  the  Ego, 
is  only  a  passing  lie,  a  mere  monstrosity  of  falsehood, 
like  any  other  of  the  many  known  evils  of  existence  ;  the 
reply  is,  that  this  conscious  personality  is  the  dearest, 
deepest,  strongest,  and  most  universal  human  assurance, 
and  any  theory  that  denies  its  existence  can  only  de- 
mand assent  when  it  has  been  absolutely  proved  not  only 
to  be  true  but  to  be  the  only  true  primordial  and  per- 
manent possibility. 

In  determining  the  question  of  the  origin  of  things, 
whether  they  were  created,  or  self-evolute,  or  results  of 
chance,  or  mere  manifestations  of  force  and  products  of 
energy,  it  is  important  to  hold  one's  own  thought,  and 
to  demand  every  one's  else  attention,  to  the  very  first 
point  of  beginning.  Science  may  pile  up  its  facts  at 
will,  and  frame  whatever  theories  it  can,  and  exhibit  the 
consistent  operation  of  all  the  laws  it  may  discover  ;  but 
the  creationist  has  the  right  to  pass  all  science  by,  that 
does  ^ot  positively  deal  with  the  very  first  existence. 

i]very  man  has  what  the  philosophers  call  "  cosmical 
conceptions,"  i.e.  thoughts,  ideas  or  notions  about  the 
universe.  The  Positivist  asserts  that  the  "totality  of 
existence  "  is  all  that  can  be  known  of  the  universe.  He 
professes  not  only  to  be  content  with  this  notion — saying 
• '  I  beheve  "  ; — but  he  declares  that    no  other  idea  or 


100      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

tliouglit  about  it  is  possible,  and  demands  that  all  others 
shall  say,  '  We  believe  in  existence  only  as  a  self-manifes- 
tation, without  any  question  about  first  or  final  cause.* 
The  Positivist  thus  acknowledges  belief  to  be  the  basis 
of  thought  and  ground  of  knowledge,  and  further  shows 
his  conviction  of  the  fundamental  and  pervading  unity 
of  humanity,  as  to  the  faculties  of  thinking  and  willing. 
He  chooses  to  declare,  that  Positivism  embraces  the 
whole  field  of  possible  knowledge.  With  apparent 
satisfaction,  which  to  other  men  appears  like  childish 
self-blinding,  he  takes  frequent  occasion  to  say,  that  he 
declines  to  entertain  the  ideas  of  a  first  and  final  cause, 
of  a  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  Universe.  He  at- 
tempts to  assert  that  man  is  incapable  of  cogTiizing  these 
ideas,  but  every  such  attempt  carries  its  own  refutation. 
He  expresses  these  very  ideas,  in  the  sentences  he  frames 
for  denying  their  possibility.  When  he  declines  to  en- 
tertain them,  he  becomes  consistent.  He  won't  accept 
them,  because  he  won't. 

The  Positivist  has  rights,  which  all  other  men  are 
bound  to  respect.  His  manly  freedom  is  his  own  and 
not  another's.  What  he  will  think,  he  may  think  as  far 
as  he  is  able.  No  other  man  has  authority  or  power, 
and  no  wise  man  has  the  disposition,  to  prevent  him  from 
forming  his  own  creed.  Having  formed  it,  he  may 
stand  to  it.  Those  who  can  hold  it  with  him,  may  stand 
with  him — gazing  into  each  other's  eyes  mth  mutual  ad- 
miration or  reciprocal  laughter — so  long  as  they  and  he 
remain  comfortable  in  this  mortal  life.  Should  the  Uni- 
verse, however,  including  the  world  and  man  mth  all  in- 
ternal and  external,  be  an  eifect,  and  God  its  cause,  the 
whole  creation  will  surely  roll  on  to  its  destiny,  wherein 
the  Positivist  will  "go  to  his  own  place." 

Not  quite  so  absurd  as  positivism,  are  the  "  cosmical 


THE   CREED    AND    MODERN   THOUGHT.  101 

conceptions,"  of  other  philosophers.  Their  schools  are 
very  numerous,  but  the  essential,  fundamental  or  germi- 
nal ideas  of  the  various  classes  ai*e  not  very  numerous. 
By  taking  a  central  point,  one  can  readily  look  out  from 
one  extreme  to  the  other  of  philosophy  ;  and  see  enough 
of  it  to  note  its  contrasts  and  relations  to  the  Creed 
where  both  touch  upon  the  Universe  or  Cosmos,  and  the 
fact  of  Creation.  The  philosophies  of  all  ages  and  all 
lands,  find  representatives  within  the  circuit  of  Modern 
Thought.  Every  philosophic  position  has  modern  occu- 
pants. There  is  nothing  absolutely  new  in  modem 
philosophy.  The  forms  of  expression,  metaphors,  group- 
ings of  ideas,  in  a  word  the  whole  rhetoric  of  modem 
philosophy  is  different  from  any  that  other  ages  have 
Ijroduced.  A  marked,  and  somewhat  successful  attempt 
Jias  been  made  to  popularize  both  science  and  philosophy. 
A  demand  has  arisen,  in  this  age  of  smartness  and  ac- 
tivity, for  popular  summaries  of  the  different  parts  of  old 
j)hilosophies  and  new  sciences.  The  Creed  is  subjected 
to  criticism  now,  from  every  point  of  view.  Many  find 
objections  and  difficulties,  new  to  them,  which  are  ad- 
vanced as  if  the  Creed  had  never  before  encountered 
them.  In  fact  however  they  are  only  small  measures 
di'awn  out  from  old  reservoirs,  and  diluted  to  the  modern 
popular  taste. 

The  place  of  divergence  for  all  philosophy  is  that  line, 
on  one  side  of  which  go  the  Idealists,  and  on  the  other 
the  Beahsts.  The  common  subject  of  both  is  Ontology, 
i.e.  the  science  of  being  ;  or  rather  the  logos,  word,  or  ten- 
tative description,  of  existence  as  it  is  in  itself.  The  Ideal- 
ists, as  we  have  seen  already,  declare  that  the  impres- 
sions of  the  senses  are  only  ideas  ;  and  that  they  do  not 
convey  knowledge  of  any  external  reality.     The  ReaHsts, 


102      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

on  the  other  hand,  maintain  that  we  cognize  things  them- 
selves through  the  senses,  and  that  we  reason  practically 
and  truly  about  them,  when  we  discover  the  laws  which 
govern  them,  and  make  our  instruments  and  machines 
according  to  those  laws.  The  Idealists  reply  that  this 
accordance  of  experiment  and  experience  with  principles 
discovered  and  with  laws  dra^Ti  out  from  large  and  ade- 
quate induction,  does  not  prove  that  the  things  observed 
and  tested  actually  exist ;  but  only  that  there  is  a  perfect 
correlation  and  harmony  in  our  senses.  Thus  one  stone 
hits  and  hurts  us,  and  another  does  the  same,  not  be- 
cause both  are  hard  in  themselves  ;  but  only  because 
"  the  permanent  possibility  of  sensation  "  is  so  uniform 
in  us,  that  we  always  have  the  sensation  of  hurt  from  a 
hitting  stone,  and  hence  obtain  the  idea  of  its  hardness. 

It  is  not  my  intention,  nor  is  it  necessary  for  the  ob- 
ject now  in  view,  to  discuss  Idealism  and  Realism.  Both, 
touching  the  question  of  the  Creation,  stand  at  last  on 
the  same  ground.  Whether  the  Universe  is  actual  or 
only  ideal ;  the  final  question  is  the  same,  viz. :  '*  Whence 
the  origin,  or  source,  or  cause  of  the  primary  fact  of  either 
reality  or  ideality  ?  Why,  how,  by  what  or  by  whom,  is 
the  whole  outward  system  of  reality,  or  the  whole  com- 
plex harmony  of  ideality,  originated  and  maintained  ?  " 
The  common  human  consciousness  of  self,  or  personality, 
is  evidently  receptive,  and  though  constructive  not  crea- 
tive. Therefore  its  ideas,  or  rather  ideality,  demand  an 
adequate  cause,  as  much  as  does  a  real,  outward  Universe. 

Starting  from  this  line  between  realism  and  idealism, 
philosophy  has  developed  on  either  hand.  It  has  been 
necessary  for  it  to  answer  the  common  inquiry  of  all 
men,  as  to  the  origin  and  sustentation  of  all  things. 

Next  behind  the  Realists,  foUow  the  Materialists.  They 
maintain  that  everything,  in  the  heavens  above  and  the 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       103 

earth  beneath,  may  be  proved  to  be  matter.  "When 
pressed  with  the  signs  of  inteUigence,  emotion,  sentiment, 
obhgation  and  the  ]ike,  they  answer  that  these  are  mere 
functions  of  matter.  They  too  still  leave  the  great  ques- 
tions, of  origin  and  sustentation,  unanswered.  Even 
should  it  be  true  that  the  Universe  is  only  matter ;  and 
hence  that  vitahty,  in  all  its  forms  and  operations,  is  only 
matter  in  operation,  they  must  yet  tell  us,  'Whence 
came  the  original  germ  of  all  matter,  and  how  it  has 
been  preserved  and  developed  into  the  Universe  that 
now  is.' 

Driven  to  the  wall,  having  no  answer  to  give,  the  un- 
satisfied philosopher,  finding  Materialism  untenable,  and 
not  willing  to  settle  down  into  the  voluntary  nescience 
of  positivism,  takes  one  step  back  of  Materialism,  and 
comes  out  on  "  Non-substantialism  or  NihiHsm,"  or  in  a 
good,  strong  English  term,  on  Nothing.  Gravely  and 
solemnly,  like  the  large-eyed  bird  of  the  night,  the  fitly 
chosen  emblem  of  the  pagan  Goddess  of  Wisdom — philos- 
ophers have  appeared  and  are  yet  appearing,  who  assign 
as  the  cause  and  sustentation  of  the  Universe,  the  great 
power  of  Nothing.  Oriental  and  Western  thinkers,  now 
and  long  ago,  endeavor  and  have  endeavored  to  hold  on 
to  the  notion,  and  to  convey  it  to  others,  that  "  Noth- 
ing "  is  the  great  immensity  whence,  and  by  which, 
something,  anything  and  finally  everything — i.e.  the 
heavens  and  the  earth — originate  and  continue. 

This  is  about  as  far  as  "philosophy  "  has  gone  in  this 
direction.  Modem  thought  has  followed  to  the  verge,  but 
has  not  seen  anything  new  to  describe,  or  argue  about, 
beyond. 

In  the  opposite  direction,  after  leaving  Idaahsm,  the 
irrepressible  searcher  after  the  deepest  depth  of  a  possi- 


104  THE    CEEED    AND   MODERN    THOUGHT. 

ble  "cosmical  conception,"  thinks  lie  has  got  another 
position,  when  he  substitutes  for  Ideahsm  a  sort  of  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  existence  of  the  Universe  coupled 
with  its  ideal  in  man's  mind.  He  says  that  the  actual 
exists.  He  adds  that  the  ideas,  man  forms,  of  the  actual, 
also  exist.  When  asked  the  old  questions,  '  Whence  the 
actual,  and  why  the  ideal,'  he  answers  that  they  are  re- 
ciprocal in  appearance  only,  but  in  fact  identical.  For 
example,  '  I  perceive  something  outward,  but  that  some- 
thing has  not  separately  operated  upon  my  senses  ;  it  has 
not  roused  my  consciousness,  and  my  consciousness  does 
not  assure  me  of  the  existence  of  the  outward  thing  ; 
but  in  fact  my  consciousness  and  the  so-called  outward 
thing  are  in  reality  one  essence,  not  two  but  one  in 
"  absolute  identity." ' 

Here  we  get  back  again  to  Positivism.  The  acceptance 
of  this  ground  involves  the  necessity  of  taking  the  same 
moral  position  as  that  of  the  positivists.  It  never  has 
been  proved  that  consciousness  aud  its  object  are  identi- 
cal. If  it  were  proved,  the  human  constitution  would 
be  false  at  its  root ;  for  its  primary,  germinal  notion  of 
its  own  existence,  i.  e.  its  consciousness,  would  not  be 
itself  but  something  else.  That  which  it  cognizes  and 
therefore  distinguishes  apart  from  itself  would,  upon 
this  theory,  be  itself.  Hence  consciousness  would  lie  to 
us  ;  we  should  be  false  in  the  very  centre  of  our  being ; 
and  confusion  not  order  would  be  the  perfection  both  of 
ourselves  and  of  the  Universe.  As  Nihilism  is  the  ex- 
treme on  one  hand,  so  this  doctrine  of  Absolute  Identity, 
between  fact  and  consciousness,  is  the  extreme  on  the 
other  hand.  Between  these  two  points  all  merely  human 
philosophy  oscillates.  When  Creation  comes  into  view, 
the  step,  ^n  which  the  "  philosopher  "  stands,  determines 
his   cosmical  conception  ;   and  he  describes,  from  that 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      105 

step,  what  he  sees,  or  thinks  he  sees,  or  thinks  about, 
*'  all  things  in  heaven  above,  in  the  earth  beneath  and 
in  the  depths  under  the  earth." 

There  is  yet  one  more  school  of  philosophy  that  is  not 
■without  influence  on  Modern  Thought.  It  cannot  of 
coui'se  stand  on  any  ground  outside  Nihilism  on  one 
hand  and  Positivism  on  the  other.  It  cannot  go  deeper 
than  nothing,  nor  higher  than  the  absolute  identity  of 
fact  and  consciousness.  Between  these  two  extremes 
the  ground  is  all  occupied.  Yet  Hegel's  Theory  of  Om- 
nipotence manages  to  crowd  itself  in,  and  make  itself 
quite  as  intelligible  and  fully  as  probable,  as  any  other 
philosophical  position.  Indeed  there  is  a  sublimity  in 
his  theory,  which  transcends  that  of  any  other  school ; 
inasmuch  as  it  assumes  the  great  work  of  binding  them 
all  together  ;  or,  rather  more  accurately  j)erhaps,  it  es- 
says the  task  of  drawing  out  the  essence  of  all  cosmical 
ideas,  and  combining  them  anew  in  one.  It  denies 
every  other  philosophy  separately,  but  affirms  all  as  one 
whole.  It  accepts  Nihilism  on  one  hand  and  Absolute 
Identity  on  the  other,  and  does  not  reject  all  between, 
at  least  in  their  relations  ;  but  it  sets  up,  in  place  of  all, 
a  theory  of  "The  Becoming."  Omnipotence,  according 
to  this  theory,  is  simply  the  abstract  force,  or  rather 
energy,  of  the  evolution.  Nothing  is  enough  for  its  be- 
ginning. It  is  not  necessary  to  assign  any  original  or 
central  seat  to  it.  It  is  not  even  necessaiy  to  conceive 
it  at  all,  as  a  distinct  existence  ;  and  it  would  be  wholly 
erroneous  to  conceive  of  it  as  developed  perfection.  It 
is  ever  working,  ever  developing,  ever  expanding,  and 
the  Universe  is  its  own  self-evolving. 

Hegel  does  not  answer  the  common  human,  and  thercr 
fore  necessary  question,  as  to  the  Cause  of  all  causes. 
He  starts  with  the  Omnipotence  of  the  Becoming. 
5* 


106      THE  CEEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT. 

Going  back  to  the  origin  of  things,  he  finds— not  perhaps 
as  an  object,  but  at  least  as  a  cognition — the  first  germ 
of  the  Universe,  lying  on  the  hither  shore  of  the  great 
Nothing.  With  it,  he  also  cognizes  the  whole  potential- 
ity of  aU  that  has  been,  and  all  that  may  be  ;  and  this  he 
calls  "The  Becoming."  Out  of  Nothing,  this  great  Be- 
coming has  api^eared  in,  through,  around,  under,  and 
identical  with  the  germ  of  the  Universe,  and  thence  have 
proceeded,  are  proceeding,  and  wiU  proceed  *' heaven 
and  earth,  and  all  things  visible  and  invisible. 

Proof  of  such  a  position  as  this  is  of  course  impossible. 
It  is  like  a  scientific  generalization,  good  only  so  long  as  it 
fits  into  aU  facts.  When  any  fact  will  not  take  it  up,  nor 
conform  to  it,  then  the  generalization  becomes  a  par- 
ticular, and  loses  all  its  distinction  and  authority. 

By  this  test  every  philosophy  stands  or  falls.  Hence 
the  only,  unquestionable  proof  of  any  philosophy  can  be 
found ;  when,  aU  possible  facts  having  been  collated,  it 
shall  be  shown  consistent  with  them  all,  and  compre- 
hensive of  all  their  laws.  The  pursuit  of  wisdom,  thro' 
mere  philosophy,  is  therefore  interminable.  On  its  own 
principles  no  philosophy  can  be  determined,  i.e.  proved 
and  established,  until  the  end  and  comj^letion  of  all  ex- 
istence. It  can  be  of  no  practical  use,  therefore  ;  for  if 
existence  be  endless,  philosophy  will  ever  continue  in- 
complete, tentative  and  hence  doubtful ;  while,  should 
existence  terminate,  there  would  remain  to  philosophy 
neither  domain  nor  subjects. 

Succinctly,  though  it  may  be  hoped  fairly,  and  fully 
enough  for  our  present  object,  the  limits  of  Modern 
Thought  have  been  sketched,  so  far  as  it  touches  the 
fact  and  bearing  of  the  work  of  the  Creation.  Every 
one  of  the  schools  mentioned  has  an  immense  literature, 
and   a  long  history.     Indeed,  as  investigation  is  made 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      107 

more  thoroughly  into  ancient  and  especially  Oriental 
thought,  it  becomes  signally,  sometimes  sadly  and  often 
ludicrously  evident,  that  the  "  wise  of  this  world  "  when 
immersed  in  speculative  thinking,  travel  round  and 
round  in  old,  well  worn  circles.  Individual  thinkers  and 
even  schools  often  traverse  their  own  tracks,  as  persons 
do  when  lost  in  the  woods.  As  a  whole,  **  the  wisdom  of 
this  world  "  consists  in  coming  before  a  crucial  question 
— e.g.  *  Is  creation  the  origin  of  finite  being? ' — ,  turning 
away  from  it  in  vain  chase  of  some  mocking  Jack  o'  Lan- 
tern ;  and,  after  much  labor,  leaving  many  footmarks 
coming  back  round  again  to  the  crux,  on  which  the  old 
legend  hangs  inscribed.  With  the  same  old  decision  to 
be  made — whether  to  keep  on  sohd  ground  and  follow 
the  guide  post,  or  turn  away  wholly  again  from  the  crux, 
and  try  over  again  the  miry  way  of  human  discovery — 
the  philosophers  are  always  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
central  mystery  of  the  Creed. 

It  may  seem  an  anticipation,  but  it  is  really  only  an- 
other illustration  of  the  Unity  of  The  Truth,  that  the 
primary  question,  of  Creation  itseK,  can  be  answered 
fully  and  clearly  only  with  a  setting  forth  and  statement 
of  the  point  of  contact  between  God  and  His  works. 
This  point  is  the  One,  Who  is  in  The  Fatheb.  The  seen 
and  the  unseen,  the  known  and  the  indiscoverable,  the 
creature  and  the  Creator  are  linked  together  by  One, 
Who  enters  creation  at  its  loftiest  point,  becoming  man 
yet  remaining  also  God.  All  the  Philosophies  centre  at 
this  point.  The  Origin  of  Being  is  the  crucial  question 
of  them  all.  They  have  explored  every  conceivable  path, 
searching  for  a  solution  of  the  question.  They  have 
failed  to  solve  it.-  They  are  unable  to  discover  God. 
They  cannot  make,  nor  conceive  how  to  invent,  the  link 
between   existence  and  its  origination  or  cause.     The 


108      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

only  idea  which  is  at  all  practical,  and  with  which  all 
facts  known  or  discoverable  can  be  harmonized,  is  that 
the  Creator  Himself  has  come  into  His  own  creation  ; 
the  Unconditioned  has  voluntarily  entered  the  Condi- 
tioned, and  that  the  Originator  of  Being  has  Himself 
come  to  show  the  Origin  of  Being. 

This  fact  takes  opposite  ground  to  that  of  philosophy  ; 
not  opposite  in  the  sense  of  antagonistic,  but  in  the  sense 
of  a  practical,  working  reality.  Philosophy,  as  we  have 
seen,  must  wait  for  its  proof  for  the  end  of  all  possible 
existence.  Until  all  facts  have  been  tested,  the  generali- 
zations of  any  and  every  philosophy,  may  be  found  de- 
fective or  erroneous.  On  the  other  hand,  the  taking 
hold  of  The  Universe  by  its  own  Creator  and  Preserver, 
the  grafting  into  Himself  of  His  own  works,  makes  at 
once  a  comprehensive  centre  for  all  thought,  as  well  as 
a  practical  helper  for  all  needs.  Creation  under  philos- 
ophy, according  to  the  wisdom  of  this  world,  is  an  ever- 
expanding  limitless  circumference  ;  which  man  must 
know  wholly,  before  he  can  learn  anything  accurately. 
Creation,  to  be  a  fact  of  any  use  to  mortal  man,  must 
show  itself  to  him  in  its  centre :  He  must  know  it  where 
it  begins.  He  must  learn  its  primary  fact,  and  dis- 
cover, or  be  taught,  or  be  led  out  to  thought  and  life 
on,  the  stream  that  flows  from  its  fountain. 

This  is  the  clearly  defined,  and  distinctive  position  of 
The  Creed.  It  begins  at  the  centre,  not  with  an  argu- 
ment, nor  with  an  assumption,  much  less  with  an  imag- 
ined tentative  abstraction  ;  but  with  a  clear  and  compre- 
hensive fact,  amply  proved  to  man's  "  practical  reason." 
The  One  God,  the  All,  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  Be- 
ginning and  the  Ending,  incomprehensible  to  finite  be- 
ings and  therefore  indiscoverable  by  man,  has  given 
Himself  to  fill  all  human  capacities,  and  has  come  before 


THE   CREED   AND   MODEKN   THOUGHT.  109 

and  into  human  cognition.  "For  the  invisible  things 
of  Him,  from  the  Creation  of  the  World  are  clearly  seen, 
being  understood  by  the  things  which  are  made,  even 
His  Eternal  power  and  godhead."     Bom.  I.  20. 

The  case  therefore  stands  thus.  Philosophy  has  not 
and  cannot  have  any  theory  of  existence,  that  may  not  in 
the  next  moment  be  overthrown  by  some  new  fact.  It  is 
therefore  practically  useless.  The  Creed  j)resents  a  cen- 
tral fact,  into  which  aU  possibihties  may  be  engrafted, 
and  with  which  all  discoveries  agree.  It  presents  its 
central  fact,  not  as  a  mere  dogma  that  must  be  accepted 
perforce,  but  as  a  solvent  for  all  difficulties,  which  it  still 
leaves  open  to  investigation,  test,  tentation,  and  fair  criti- 
cism. It  has  stood  through  all  trials.  It  stands  yet,  re- 
answering  old  objections.  Hitherto,  at  its  central  fact 
alone,  has  been  found  sure  ground  for  human  thought 
and  action.  Nothing  else  promises  any  conceivable,  sure 
ground.  It  promises  to  continue,  as  now,  through  all 
the  future.  Demonstration  indeed  is  not  given  of  its 
central  fact,  because  demonstration  would  destroy  man's 
dignity.  We  are  so  constituted  that  enforced  belief 
would  render  impossible  that  education,  which  begin- 
ning with  our  wills,  runs  out  through  all  our  faculties, 
and  makes  us  finally,  within  fixed  limits,  what  we  elect 
to  be.  Sufficient  proof,  not  any  predetermined  particu- 
lar kind  of  proof,  we  have  the  right  to  demand  for  the 
Creed.  When  sufficient  proof  is  given,  then  we  may 
take  it  if  we  like,  or  reject  it  if  we  like.  The  only  con- 
sequence will  be,  that  the  creation,  the  universe,  wiU 
roll  on,  and  we  will  roll  on  with  it.  If  we  hold  the  truth 
about  it,  and  live  according  to  the  laws,  or  in  obedience  to 
the  requirements  of  its  maker,  we  shaU  finally  be  found 
in  harmony  with  it.  If  we  refuse  to  accept  just  proof  of 
the  truth,  we  shall  fall  into  error  and  suffer  the  conse- 


110      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

quences.  If  one  should  pronounce  against  belief  in  the 
law  of  gravity,  and  at  any  time  illustrate  his  unbeHef, 
e.g.  by  plunging  from  a  precipice,  he  will  have  vindi- 
cated his  liberty,  but  the  rocks  below  will  mangle  him 
none  the  less.  Similar  consequences  follow  from  any 
error  or  falsehood  we  may  adopt,  or  into  which  we  may 
fall.  We  do  not  control  the  Universe,  bat  we  move 
along  with  it.  This,  as  a  general  fact  or  law,  not  only 
accords  with  all  human  experience,  but  has  control  over 
all  common  expectation  of  either  hope  or  fear.  We  can 
never  count  upon  escaping  consequences,  i.e.  the  effects 
of  any  cause  we  put  in  motion,  or  of  any  series  of  causes 
into  which  we  voluntarily  enter ;  and  we  can  only  hope 
for  deliverance,  not  exemption  from  effects  whose  causes 
we  involuntarily  evoke.  Hence  the  practical  impor- 
tance of  right  mental  and  moral  views  about  Creation 
lies  in  the  fact,  that  our  lives  will  be  ordered  after,  and 
therefore  our  destiny  determined  according  to  those 
views.  Man  cannot  be  man,  he  can  only  be  a  mere  slave 
or  machine,  in  any  other  kind  of  existence. 

There  are,  indeed,  various  theories  of  creation  ;  some 
of  which  have  been  already  touched  upon.  It  is  here  de- 
signed to  attempt  neither  their  description  nor  refutation. 
One  answer  meets  all  aspects  of  denial  against  the  creator- 
ship,  as  set  forth  in  the  Creed.  It  is  simply  that  nothing 
else  accounts  for  it,  in  intelligible  terms. 

Any  man  can  grasp  the  idea  of  a  primary,  uncaused, 
or  first — cause.  He  cannot  comprehend  it,  for  the  obvious 
reason,  so  often  already  adduced,  that  the  effect,  being 
consequent  on  its  cause,  cannot  encompass  its  own  ori- 
gin. All  effects, — i.e.  "Heaven  and  Earth  and  all  things 
visible  and  invisible  " — cannot  comprise  that  which  gave 
them  being.     They  are  evidently  not  self-existent.    Law 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      Ill 

is  not  their  life,  for  law  can  be  only  the  rule  of  their 
mode  of  existence  or  operation.  There  must  be  a  power 
under  and  in  all  law,  i.e.  The  Law-giver,  The  Creator 
and  Preserver.  We  look  through  creation  as  we  look 
through  any  event — even  a  trivial  one.  We  come  for  ex- 
ample upon  a  habitation  in  the  wilderness.  We  think 
some  inteUigent  creature  built  it,  but  upon  watching  we 
find  that  creature  is  not  man  as  we  supposed.  We  are 
satisfied,  when  we  find  the  builder  in  any  creature,  whose 
capacities  are  equal  to  the  result.  We  cannot  stop  short 
of  a  cause  or  causer,  whose  understanding  and  will,  or 
instinct,  may  be  equal  to  the  effect  we  have  noticed. 
This  same  natural,  necessary,  universal,  and  inevitable 
operation  goes  on  in  the  mind  of  every  man,  who  thinks 
about  creation.  Even  those  who  assert  that  such  an 
operation  does  not  go  on  in  their  minds  ;  and  who  boast 
that  they  cannot  conceive  of  a  first  cause,  are  all  the  time 
explaining  phenomena  by  causes.  That  is  enough.  No 
chain  of  causes  can  be  endless,  because  such  a  notion  is 
absolutely  inconceivable.  It  answers  nothing  to  human 
thought  or  human  desire.  The  First  Cause  is  not  in- 
conceivable. It  is  only  incomprehensible,  or  in  other 
words  large  enough  to  hold  its  own  effects.  Again  no 
line  of  causes  can  be  circular,  touching  at  however  re- 
mote points  of  circumference,  for  then  the  junction  would 
cause  itself,  and  become  reciprocally  and  identically  both 
eff'ect  and  cause,  which  is  contradiction  in  terms. 

The  Universe  comes  into  view  as  a  fact.  Whatever 
we  may  determine  about  our  powers  of  cognition,  we  all 
agree  upon  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  the  Universe. 
Realists  and  Idealists,  and  those  who  revolve  round  them, 
as  contiguous  centres,  all  accept  the  fact.  We  have 
already  seen  that  merely  human  philosophy  has  no  ex- 


112      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

planation  of  the  universe.  Every  school  indeed  promises 
to  find  an  explanation,  but  it  wiU  come  too  late,  even  if 
it  should  come  at  all.  What,  living  man  wants,  is  some 
ground  on  vrhich  to  stand.  He  begins  therefore  with 
the  Me,  and  the  Not-me.  I  am.  The  world  is.  Two 
obvious  facts  !  The  notion  of  causality  at  once  rises  in  his 
mind.  He  asks  whence  the  Me  and  the  Not-me  ?  What 
caused  the  Universe  ?  All  that  is  in  the  Universe  must 
answer  to  some  faculty  of  its  cause.  Beauty,  power, 
wisdom,  strength  majesty,  all  known  or  possibly  con- 
ceivable excellencies  must  dwell  in  the  cause  of  their  own 
universal  developments.  Must  squalor,  wretchedness, 
decay,  destruction,  shame,  and  even  death  and  the  like, 
also  dwell  in  the  Cause  as  they  do  in  the  Universe  ? 
Fronting  each  other  stand  good  and  evil,  right  and 
wrong,  truth  and  falsehood  ;  and  they  penetrate  all  rela- 
tions of  matter,  soul  and  spirit.  All  the  histories  con- 
tained in  literal  records,  and  all  those  written  in  rock- 
records  of  the  geologic  ages,  exhibit  this  same  contrariety. 
Can  the  Creator  of  the  Universe  be  an  imperfect,  self- 
contradictory,  and  self- conflicting  Being?  Is  there  more 
than  One  ?     Ai-e  there  many  Supreme  Gods  ? 

These  are  fair  questions.  They  have  been  studied, 
and  discoursed  about,  from  the  beginning,  at  least  of 
philosophic  thought.  All  ages  and  all  nations  have  con- 
sidered them.  The  answers  have  been  innumerable. 
One  common  acknowledgment  has  pervaded  them  all. 
The  Universe  must  have  had  an  adequate  First  Cause. 

That  I'irst  Cause  which  is  sufficient,  for  the  Universe, 
must  be  acknowledged.  If  the  Creator  of  the  Creed  be 
accepted,  He  must  be  shown  equal  to  and  consistent  with 
all  existence. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  accepting  the  idea,  and  con- 
fessing the  fact  of  a  perfectly  good,  absolutely  powerful, 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      113 

and  omnipresent  Creator.  If  tlie  universe  were  a  mirror 
of  only  goodness,  truth  and  beauty  ;  there  would  be  a 
picture  reflected  from  it  of  unblemished  perfection.  But 
this  is  not  the  picture  we  see. 

This  difficulty,  The  Creed  does  not  explain,  at  this 
point.  It  cannot  however  be  pushed  aside.  All  men 
perceive  it.  Some  inquire  about  it  in  perplexity,  and 
some  in  scorn.  Reverent  believers  are  sometimes  ap- 
palled, at  the  apparent  sternness  and  coldness  of  the  Creed 
in  this  article  ;  while  some  of  the  self-confident,  among 
followers  of  the  wisdom  of  this  world,  think  they  can 
prove  an  inconsistency  between  One,  God,  Father,  Creator, 
and  the  blemished  Universe. 

Before  looking  into  this  difficulty  it  may  be  well  to 
repeat  again,  that  either  the  One,  God,  Father,  is  The 
Creator  of  the  Universe  ;  or  there  is  none  known.  The 
philosophers  of  modem  thought  accept  the  alternative. 
They  say,  not  only  that  He  is  unknown,  but  unknowable 
also.  The  latter  assertion  has  been  amply  refuted  already, 
where  it  has  been  shown  that  God  is  known,  and  may  be 
known  more  and  more  forever,  tho'  never  fully  compre- 
hended. The  former  is  in  square  opposition  to  The 
Creed.  The  proof  of  this  article,  at  this  point,  is  simply 
the  old  course  of  argument  from  effect  to  cause.  It  is  too 
well  known  to  demand  repetition.  Its  steps  are  regular, 
and  easy  to  follow.  They  lead  up  fi'om  fact,  through 
marks  of  design  showing  inteUigence  and  power,  and 
finally  take  us  out,  on,  to  the  one,  only  adequate  and 
satisfactory,  conception  of  the  First  Cause,  viz.  :  The  One 
perfect  and  all  powerful  Person,  manifesting  Himself 
thro'  I  AM,  I  WHiL :  not  an  abstraction,  which  would  be  a 
kind  of  mystic,  nebulous  incertitude,  but  a  veritable  Con- 
crete Person,  in  Whom  centres  all  perfectness,  and 
whose  personahty  alone  satisfies,  and  explains  man's  own 


114      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

primary,  compreliensive,  and  unit-consciousness  of  per- 
sonality. 

Perfectness  is  essential  to  the  First  Cause.  We  can- 
not imagine  an  imperfect  First  Cause.  Nor  can  we  con- 
ceive of  two  first  causes.  The  Universe,  with  its  mingled 
and  conflicting  good  and  evil,  must  be  shown  possible 
under  The  Perfect,  First  Cause.  There  must  be  a  rea- 
sonable account  of  things,  as  they  are  and  have  been  on 
the  earth,  in  order  to  leave  this  article  of  the  Creed  in- 
tact. 

Looking  only  at  God,  we  do  not  see  how  it  was  possi- 
ble for  evil  and  confusion  to  come  into  His  Universe. 
This  admission  ought  to  be  made  in  its  broadest  signifi- 
cance and  fullest  force.  There  are  marks  of  God's  i)Ower, 
love,  mercy,  goodness,  indeed  of  every  conceivable  excel- 
lence, in  nature.  He  alone  answers  to  the  necessity  of  a 
cause  for  all  causes.  Alas,  however,  not  less  distinct  are 
the  darkness  and  the  evil ! 

"What  is  the  conclusion  ? 

Simply  that  Nature  does  not  reveal  God  in  His  perfect- 
ness. We  cannot  find  Him  out  through  His  works  only. 
He  has  hidden  Himself.  There  is  something  which  exists, 
in  apparent  opposition  to,  and  out  of  harmony  with  Him. 
Nature  shows  this  discord  and  opposition.  How  came 
it  ?     What  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  it  ? 

As  by  looking  wp  only,  after  God,  we  fail  to  find  Him; 
we  should  next  look  down  into  ourselves,  as  constituting 
mankind  ;  that,  if  possible,  we  may  get  a  clearer  vision 
of  Him  ;  or  learn,  if  we  may,  something  more  than  the 
Universe  of  outward  nature  shows,  by  studying  Him  in 
the  relations  discoverable  between  Him  and  man,  the 
greatest  of  known  creatures. 

It  is  at  once  evident  that  if  the  Almighty  had  acted  ir- 
resistibly in  creation,  man  could  not  have  been  made. 


THE    CREED    AND   MODERN    THOUGHT.  115 

The  very  essence  of  man's  self-respect,  and  conscious  dig- 
nity, lies  in  his  position  towards  the  good.  If  forced  upon 
him,  he  would  lose  manliness  :  he  would  be  something 
else  than  man.  If  we  ask  how  God  could  have  made  such 
a  creature,  under  such  a  relation  to  good  that  by  refusing 
he  might  cause  evU,  we  reply  that  God  knows  ;  and  that 
is  the  only  philosophical  reply  possible  to  any  question 
that  judges  about  God.  He,  Himself,  is  the  only  person 
that  can  look  out  from  His  own  stand-point.  No  danger- 
ous admission  is  made,  in  confessing  that  we  do  not  know 
how  it  was  possible,  for  the  Good  One,  to  suffer  His 
creature  to  contract  evil  with  its  consequences.  On  the 
side  where  we  can  see,  viz.:  our  own  human  side,  evil  is 
only  the  negation  of  good,  arising  from  its  refusal  by  one 
whose  very  manhood  involves  liberty  to  choose  or  refuse. 
Nevertheless  man  is  such  as  he  is  ;  and  evil  is  in  him  as 
well  as  in  the  natural  world.  "What  shall  he  do  about 
it?  What  does  it  reveal  to  him  about  both  himself  and 
nature  ? 

Before  answering  these  questions,  let  us  look  at  an- 
other aspect  of  nature.  It  is,  and  has  been,  from  the 
earhest  recorded  period,  an  arena  of  conflict.  Evident 
progress  appears,  but  not  from  one  completeness  only  to 
another  of  larger  scope.  Every  step  has  displayed  in- 
completeness ;  while,  all  along  the  way  lie  strewed  the 
wrecks  of  what  look  not  wholly  unlike  attempts  and  fail- 
ures. There  has  never  been  any  absolute  cessation  of 
the  efforts  of  nature.  The  cataclysms,  that  have  appar- 
ently intervened  between  different  orders  of  things,  have 
never  broken  nature's  continuity.  Her  work  has  ever, 
both  progressed,  and  advanced.  Simple  types,  shown  in 
early  ages,  are  found  developed  into  complex  organs  and 
organisms  in  subsequent  ages.  That  which  was  beauti- 
ful or  strong,  or  powerful  at  first,  has  expanded  into 


116      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

forms  of  greater  excellence.  Mere  signs  have  existed  in 
types,  apparently  useless  to  the  living  forms  that  then 
bore  them,  which,  in  a  higher  order  of  creatures,  have 
been  advanced  to  important  members. 

Nature  therefore,  in  itself,  not  only  cannot  show  us  the 
perfect  goodness  of  God  ;  but  it  cannot  declare  His  al- 
mightiness. 

Modem  Thought  is  making  great  ado  about  these 
facts.  Much  argumentation  has  been  expended  upon 
them,  and  even  some  lightness  of  speech  indulged  in ; 
as  if  because  Nature  does  not  reveal  God  in  His  perfect- 
ness,  therefore,  forsooth.  He  is  not  perfect.  Those  who 
hold  and  are  held  by  The  Creed,  need  experience  no 
difficulty  with  these  evident  "  defects  of  Nature." 

Before  replying  to  these  objections  of  Modern  Thought, 
it  may  be  important  to  note  that  the  zealous,  and  learned, 
and  eloquent  divines,  who  have  endeavored  to  prove  from 
nature  the  perfection  of  God's  goodness  and  might,  have 
only  failed  in  their  final  effort.  They  have  not  failed  in 
proving  that,  *'The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God, 
and  the  firmament  sheweth  His  handy  work".  They 
have  traced,  everywhere,  signs  of  both  His  goodness, 
and  His  might.  Indeed  very  plausible,  elaborate  argu- 
ments have  been  sustained,  in  proof  that  this  world  is  the 
verj''  best  world  that  could  have  been  constituted  ;  that 
the  vast  excess  of  good  over  evil  evinces  the  hand  of  su- 
preme goodness  ;  while  the  uprising  of  truth,  out  of  the 
dust  of  many  overthrows,  shows  the  supremacy  of  an 
ever-consistent,  and  resistless  power. 

It  is  best,  however,  not  to  demand  more  from  Nature, 
than  she  is  appointed  and  enabled  to  teach.  It  is  enough 
that  she  provides  the  clear  road,  through  which  man  may 
travel  back  from  effect  to  cause  until  he  comes  out  on 
the  last  conceivable  effect,  and  there  apprehends  The  first 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      117 

Cause.  He  does  not  discover  the  First  Cause,  nor  see 
Him,  nor  comprehend  Him  ;  but  he  finds  the  primary 
germinal  reality  of  all  existence  to  be  an  effect.  He  can- 
not, by  virtue  of  his  natural,  human  constitution,  rest  in 
thought  on  an  effect.  He  necessarily  conceives,  then 
cognizes,  then  believes  in,  then  reflects  upon,  then  with 
expanding  apprehension  lays  hold  of  The  First  Cause. 

This  First  Cause  must  be  perfect.  God  cannot  be  less 
than  Infinitely  good  and  powerful.  Why  then  evil  and 
conflict  in  Nature  ? 

To  God's  side  of  this  now  doubled  question  we  are  not 
able,  or  rather  perhaps  not  yet  able  to  penetrate.  We 
answer  frankly,  fully,  and  without  embarrassment^  *  We  do 
not  know.'  Modern  Thought  can  make  the  most  of  the 
admission.  It  maybe  added  further,  for  its  delectation, 
that  the  numerous  divines,  who  try  to  prove  this  world 
to  be  a  mirror  of  Divine  perfectness,  as  well  as  the  phi- 
losophers among  whom  Leibnitz  is  prominent,  who 
thought  it  the  best  of  possible  worlds,  may  in  fact  be  as 
much  mistaken  as  were  the  Christian  Fathers  who  re- 
fused to  accept  the  rotundity  of  the  world,  or  the  eccle- 
siastical powers  of  the  middle  ages  who  called  physical 
science  magic,  and  assigned  to  the  facts  of  astronomy 
the  doom  of  heresy. 

While  claiming  for  Nature,  power,  capacity  and  mission 
for  declaring  very  many  beautiful  and  glorious  things  of 
God  ;  and  insisting  upon  keeping  open  the  road  through 
her  where  men  may  travel  back  from  effect  to  cause, 
until  they  naturally  apprehend  and  may  practically  find 
the  First  Cause  ;  we  freely  and  fully  admit,  that  the 
Divine-perfections  are  not  apparent  in  natui-e  :  nor  do  we 
yet  know  enough  of  the  Divine  side  of  nature,  to  say 
why  God,  for  His  own  sake,  did  not  display  these  per- 
fections either  in  nature  or  in  natural  man.     By  dechn- 


118      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

ing  to  agree  wholly  with  the  Optimists,  we  do  not  there- 
by give  up  nature  to  the  Pessimists.  The  controversy 
between  these  two  schools  is  interminable  ;  for  good  and 
beauty  abound  in  nature,  and  so  also  do  apparent  evil 
and  discord. 

One  line  of  investigation  remains  open.  It  is  the  only 
one  that  has  ever  been  open  to  mankind.  Moreover  it 
is  the  only  one  that,  from  his  very  constitution  can  be 
open  naturally  to  one,  who  is  not  the  source  of  his  own 
existence.  Man,  consciously  self-insufficient  in  respect 
both  to  origin  and  continuance,  can  view  himself  and  the 
world  from  the  side  of  effect  and  not  from  that  of  cause. 
He  mfxj  observe  and  reason,  but  he  cannot  penetrate  to 
the  essence  of  fact.  Yet  he  cannot  accept  a  contradic- 
tion. It  is  impossible  for  him  to  beheve  in  God,  unless 
he  also  believes  Him  perfect  in  goodness  and  power. 

Thus  hemmed  in,  i.e.  finite,  he  inquires  about  himself 
and  nature. 

In  the  first  place,  because  he  knows  himself  to  be  the 
lord  of  nature,  he  does  not  expect  external  nature  to  be 
more  perfect  or  exalted  than  himself.  If  therefore  he 
can  see  any  sufficient  reason  why  incompleteness  should 
exist  in  himself,  he  c£in  see  a  stronger  reason  why  it 
should  exist  in  external  natirre.  He  finds  himself,  in 
fact,  incomplete  in  every  faculty.  His  consciousness  and 
history  coincide  in  showing  him  to  be  a  developing 
creature  ;  while  his  consciousness  particularly  evinces 
that  he  is  in  process  of  education,  whereinto  his  own 
will  enters  as  a  large  factor  and  strong  influence. 

Moreover  he  discovers  evil  in  himself,  not  merely 
physical  ills,  but  mental  maladies,  and  moral  corruption.^ 
These  produce  much  confusion  within,  and  lead  to  much 
disaster  without. 

Thus  man  finds  that  he  is,  as  has  been  often  said,  a 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      119 

microcosm  i.e.  *'  a  little  world  in  himself  ".  His  likeness 
to  external  nature  explains  nature's  likeness  to  him.  If 
therefore  any  reasons  can  be  given  why  man  should  be 
afflicted  with  defects,  out  of  which  he  may  grow  and 
reach  thereby  higher  education  or  development ;  it  will 
be  only  the  more  reasonable  that  the  field  of  his  action — 
great,  but  relatively  inferior  nature — should  also  display 
a  similar  progi-ess  from  lower  to  higher  grades.  If 
moreover  any  reasons  can  "be  given  why  evil  should  befal 
man,  it  wiU  thereby  become  reasonable  to  look  for  evil 
in  all  the  lesser  surroundings  of  nature. 

Not  to  burden  this  discussion,  we  may  fairly  drop  the 
lesser  consideration  ;  because,  if  not  involved  in  the 
greater,  it  can  at  least  be  easily  shown  why  defects  exist 
in  nature,  when  we  have  once  given  a  reasonable  account 
of  the  evil  that  is  in  man.  Now  a  person,  who  cannot  do 
evil,  and  must  do  good,  is  certainly  not  such  a  creature 
as  man  knows  himself  to  be.  Moreover  man  has  no  wish 
to  be  such  a  creature  ;  and  when  he  sometimes  says  so, 
what  he  means  is  only  that  he  would  be  content  to  barter 
his  manliness  for  the  profit,  that  might  accrue  to  him 
from  enforced  good.  This  is  slavery,  none  the  less  but 
rather  the  more  degrading  because  voluntary.  It  is 
totally  incompatible  with  normal  self-respect,  and  de- 
structive of  the  very  essence  of  manliness. 

Looking  only  where  he  can  see,  viz. :  on  his  own, 
finite  side  of  himself  and  nature,  man  perceives  labors 
and  conflicts,  vdthin  and  around  him.  Performing  the 
one  and  waging  the  other  he  educates,  i.e.  draws  out, 
develops  and  enlarges  his  own  faculties.  Evils  and  diffi- 
culties impose  sore  trials,  hard  toils,  and  severe  endur- 
ances upon  him  ;  but  in  facing  them  and  battling  against 
them,  he  exalts  himself.  Nor  can  he  conceive  of  any 
other  way  or  means  whereby  he  might  become  educated, 


120  THE    CREED    AND   MODEEN   TPIOTJGIIT. 

developed  and  exalted.  So  long  as  he  keeps  to  liis  own 
side  of  things,  and  does  not  foolishly  attempt  to  pass 
judgment  upon  God,  he  learns  and  practices  those  les- 
sons of  wisdom,  which  teach  him  to  deal  with  facts  as 
facts,  and  not  vainly  attempt  to  evade  them  ;  nor  to 
search  after  other  shoulders  upon  which  to  lay  their 
weight,  that  he  may  evade  responsibility  and  escape 
duty. 

Thus,  viewed  from  the  mot-tal,  human  side,  man  and 
nature  are  exactly  adapted  to  each  other.  Both  are 
growing  by  similar  processes.  The  scholar  and  the 
school  coincide.  This  is  evident  not  only  of  man,  and 
contemporary  nature  ;  but  all  the  past  also,  even  back  to 
the  first  record  in  the  rocks,  shows  that  the  school  was, 
from  the  beginning,  planned,  according  to  the  needs  of 
the  coming  scholar. 

Craving  knowledge,  and  searching  after  it  wherever 
it  may  be  found ;  but  wisely  and  resolutely  keeping 
within  the  finite,  man  goes  forth  to  his  studies,  toils  and 
battles,  and  finds  himself  developing,  according  to  his 
own  true  type,  when  he  is  most  faithful  to  the  truth  and 
the  right  as  far  as  he  sees  them.  His  natural  capacities 
find  ample  verge  and  room  enough,  within  the  finite 
limits  of  the  presently  open,  and  the  now  possible.  It  is 
true  that  he  does  not  find  perfectness,  either  in  himself 
or  nature  ;  and  hence  cannot,  within  the  whole  scope  of 
the  finite,  discover  the  Perfect  Being.  He  can  perceive 
shadows  of  His  presence,  though  not  clearly  enough  de- 
fined to  reveal  His  aspect.  He  notes  evidences  of  His 
power,  though  not  enough  to  make  clear  His  omnipo- 
tence. He  rejoices  in  marks  of  beauty  and  goodness, 
though  not  so  free  from  blemish  and  ill,  as  to  prove  His 
perfect  love  and  ineffable  glory.  Yet  both  the  effort  and 
the  failure   develop  the  very  highest  possible  human 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      121 

faculties.  The  effort  makes  him  manly,  after  the  noblest 
conceivable  type  of  manliness ;  while  the  failure  leaves 
him  in  a  hopeful  though  humbled  condition.  At  just 
this  point  comes  into  exercise  another  human  faculty, 
higher  than  reason,  and  nobler  than  hopeful  imagination. 
He  never  could  exercise  this  faculty,  were  he  and  nature 
perfect.  It  is  the  faculty  of  faith.  Standing  in  the  midst, 
or  stooping  over  the  outmost  verge  of  nature,  man  every- 
where finds  occasion  for  faith.  Faith  is  not  a  substitute 
for  knowledge,  much  less  its  antagonist.  It  is  also  both 
the  guide  and  supporter  of  hope.  The  Infinite,  conde- 
scending to  the  finite,  God,  caring  for  His  noblest  crea- 
ture, leads  him  on  through  knowledge  and  hope,  and 
finally  as  the  last,  best,  ^noblest  gift  offers  Himself  to  the 
personal  trust  and  confidence  of  man.  Accepting  the 
offer,  and  putting  forth  faith,  man  learns  all  he  may 
from  himself  and  from  nature  ;  is  bafiled,  but  still  hopes 
for  perfection  ;  and  then  lays  hold  of  the  hand  that  comes 
down  from  above.  That  God  does  thus  reach  forth  to 
His  creature,  touching  his  eyes  that  he  may  see,  raising 
him  up  that  he  may  walk,  coming  into  all  his  person  and 
illumining  all  nature,  encouraging  him  in  difficulties, 
and  impelling  him  to  conquer  fear  and  even  to  meet 
death  bravely,  is  a  fact  which  every  age  and  eveiy  people 
have  witnessed  and  to  which  amply  testified,  Without 
this  power  of  faith  man  might  be  a  beautiful  animal,  or 
a  being  of  high  intellect,  or  indeed  a  cultured  social  crea- 
ture, but  he  could  not  be  a  whole  man.  His  spirit  would 
be  as  nothing ;  and  all  its  grand,  immortal  aspirations 
would  become  only  dismal  deceptions. 

If  thinking  men  would  be  content  to  think  as  men, 

and  not  vainly  try  to  see,  as  if  in  their  own  right  they 

were  gods,  nature  would  everywhere  speak  to  them  of 

The  Creator  ;  while  her  very  evils  and  defects  would  only 

6 


122      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

show  the  rung  of  faith  in  the  ladder,  that  rising  through 
things  seen  and  known,  still  continues  stretching  on  and 
up  into  the  unseen. 

Nothing  is  now  said  of  sin,  because  The  Creed  to 
this  point  does  not  mention  it.  Nothing  is  offered  as 
proof  from  revelation,  because  to  this  point  The  Creed 
only  presents  those  facts,  which  precede  the  written 
word.  The  visible  universe,  the  cosmos  of  human  dis- 
covery, and  personal  man  as  his  own  consciousness 
Imows  him,  are  the  facts  on  which  are  set  up  the  reali- 
ties set  forth,  in  this  first  of  the  three  divisions  of  the 
Creed.  The  region  of  investigation  traversed,  is  that 
which  philosophy  has  endeavored  to  monopolize.  Mod- 
ern Thought  follows  philosophy,  and  through  all  its 
branches  is  testing  the  doctrine  of  the  Creed,  and  evi- 
dently endeavoring  to  shake  its  foundation.  If  it  could 
have  been  shaken,  it  would  have  fallen  long  ago ;  and 
with  it  would  have  fallen  every  hope  that  nerves  man  for 
the  battle  of  life,  and  every  assurance  that  shines  with 
light  through  the  grave.  That  modem  philosophy  has 
failed,  as  all  ancient  philosophy  also  failed,  in  attempting 
to  shatter  one  stone  in  this  foundation  is  sure,  and  prov- 
able if  not  already  proved.  Nothing  more  is  required 
to  establish  the  Creed,  than  is  demanded  for  any  and 
every  "  philosophical  system".  Both  begin  with  axioms, 
and  both  start  with  "  I  believe".  The  only  practical  ques- 
tion is,  *  Shall  we  beheve  in  some  figment  of  human  fancy 
dogmatically  asserted,  or  shall  we  confide  in  that  fact, 
which  alone  answers  all  fair  speculative  questions,  while 
at  the  same  time  it  accords  with  practical  life  and  fully 
satisfies  hope  ;  and  wherein  alone  man  finds  exercise,  not 
for  any  one  human  faculty  alone,  but  for  all  that  he  is 
consciously,  and  for  all  that  he  can  conceive  as  possible 
in  his  normal  development  ? ' 


THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  123 

Brief  as  this  discussion  is,  when  compared  with  the 
countless,  light  or  ponderous,  tomes  of  hostile  philoso- 
phy, nothing  has  been  intentionally  omitted  that  was 
necessary  to  show  fairly  the  central  germinal  idea  of 
every  school  of  Modern  Thought.  Every  school  stands 
or  falls  with  its  germinal  idea.  Great  names,  great  learn- 
ing and  great  popularity  go  for  nothing,  with  clear, 
manly  and  honest  thinkers,  when  the  primordial  cell  of 
the  systems  advocated  is  found  incapable  of  the  develop- 
ment claimed  for  it.  Before  and  above  all  modem  as- 
saults, The  Creed  stands  as  it  has  stood  thro'  the  long 
past,  unfractured  and  unshaken,  on  the  estabUshed  foun- 
dation, the  fact,  that  The  One  God,  Father,  Pantocrat, 
is  "  Maker  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  and  of  all  things  Visi- 
ble and  invisible  ". 


124      THE  CKEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 


"  anb  in  hms^    "  3lnb  in  ®ne  Corlr  Stsua." 

Two  great  facts  now  stand,  in  mutual  relation  to  each 
other ;  and  yet,  in  a  certain  sense,  over  against  each 
other,  like  sound  and  its  echo,  or  like  light  and  an  object 
reflecting  it.  Man  looks  now  on  this  fact,  and  now  on 
that.  He  hears  the  echo,  knows  a  sound  caused  it,  and 
then  listens  that  he  may  hear  the  sound.  He  sees  the 
object,  and  looks  away  from  it,  upward  after  the  light. 
God  the  First  Cause,  The  Creator  manifests  Himself  by 
His  Word ;  and  the  Universe,  springing  into  being,  re- 
echoes His  voice.  He,  the  Light  shineth,  and  the  Uni- 
verse reflects  Him. 

Man,  in  the  Universe  and  of  it,  cannot  be  subject  to 
it.  His  consciousness,  which  is  the  basis  of  all  his  self- 
knowledge,  will  not  permit  him  to  rest  in  the  idea,  that 
the  Cosmos,  the  great  organism  of  matter  and  form  and 
power,  into  which  he  is  bom  without  choice  or  will  of 
his  own,  and  in  which  in  like  manner  he  is  living  and 
advancing,  can  be  his  lord  and  ruler.  He  is  affected  by 
it,  in  the  matter  of  his  body,  through  the  thoughts  of 
his  mind,  and  by  his  senses  and  sensibilities ;  yet  he 
knows  that  he  and  his  race  are  greater  and  nobler  than 
the  natural  universe.  Every  place  in  it,  that  he  can 
reach,  he  may  own  and  use.  Every  animal,  and  living 
creature  of  lower  degree,  he  may  appropriate  to  his  own 
use  or  pleasure.  Yet  the  Universe  is  a  material  and 
forceful  mechanism,  too  strong  for  his  individual  control ; 
and  even  too  strong  for  control  by  his  whole  race.    His- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       125 

toiy  is  largely  a  record  of  the  struggles  of  humanity 
against  the  inertia,  or  of  sharp  battles  with  the  complex 
energies  of  the  Universe.  Indeed,  looking  only  at  his- 
tory, the  Universe  seems  not  unlike  millstones,  between 
whose  upper  and  nether  surfaces  the  generations  of  man- 
kind are  ground  up,  with  other  animals  and  forms  of 
matter,  into  a  "  pale  unanimity  ".  Moreover,  for  aught 
man  alone  can  discover,  the  future  of  destiny  is  a  dust 
heap  ;  through  which  he  may  be  scattered  hopelessly, 
with  his  grand  personal  consciousness  disintegrated,  de- 
stroyed and  made  a  lie,  and  all  his  subordinates  of  form 
and  faculty  scattered,  and  left  indistinguishable  amid 
the  atoms,  that  were  other  men,  or  animals,  or  trees,  or 
stones. 

Against  this  conceivable  possibility  every  human  crea- 
ture, who  thinks,  revolts.  He  will  not,  he  cannot  return 
to  dust  of  matter,  and  to  scattered  mist  drops  of  spirit ; 
destined  to  float  through  space,  until  some  new  hap  of 
affinity  or  attraction  shall  construct  another  primordial 
cell,  out  of  which  shall  grow  some  new  being.  His 
deepest  consciousness  of  unit  personality  will  not  permit 
him  to  endure  the  thought  of  any  contingency,  wherein 
his  "I "  shall  cease  to  be.  Now  and  then  indeed  a  de- 
graded man  may  declare  himself  willing  to  sell  out  his 
personality  ;  or  one  in  despair  may  wish  he  could  cease 
to  be  ;  but  such  moral-wrecks  are  exceptions  that  con- 
firm the  rule  ;  if  indeed,  on  deep  testing,  it  be  not  found 
that  even  they  are  self-deceivers,  or  experimenters  on 
others'  credulity.  It  is  certain  that  every  true  and 
normal  man,  and  even  the  immense  majority  of  men  as 
they  are,  cling  tenaciously  to  their  conscious  personality, 
while  pushing  on  through  the  vicissitudes  of  the  battle 
of  life. 

And  yet  here  is  the  Universe,  revolving  and  grinding ; 


126      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

and  here  we  all  are  every  one  of  us  in  the  hopper,  jostled 
and  torn  and  half  smothered  in  the  crush  through  which, 
sick  or  well,  hoping  or  fearing,  we  are  slowly  sliding 
down  to  the  little  space,  in  which  we  are  sure  to  be 
ground  to  death.  We  should  have  something  to  cling  to, 
if  the  Creed  had  stopped  at  its  first  article.  Creator,  Pan- 
tocrat,  Father  are  words  of  promise,  out  of  which  man,  in 
life's  extremity,  may  extract  both  comfort  and  hope :  but 
they  leave  God  far  off,  on  a  distant  throne,  caring  for  us 
indeed,  but  not  coming  down  where  we  may  lay  hold  of 
Him,  and  call  confidently  on  Him  present  for  help  at 
hand. 

All  human  necessities  however  are  met,  and  supplied  in 
Jesus,  the  Saviour.  It  is  not  yet  time  to  consider  the 
proofs  of  His  character,  and  coming  and  mission.  We 
are  as  yet  only  viewing  the  Creed,  in  its  relation  to  and 
bearing  upon  human  necessities.  Exceptions,  also,  be- 
long to  considerations  on  subsequent  articles.  Only 
normal,  true  men,  and  mankind  are  now  in  view.  Hu- 
manity finds  in  Jesus  the  binding  link  between  God  and 
His  universe.  Humanity,  in  and  of,  yet  consciously 
superior  to  the  Universe,  has  its  highest  hopes  assured, 
its  noblest  aspirations  vindicated,  and  its  deepest  self- 
consciousness  verified  in  the  person  of  the  Saviour  ;  Who 
lays  hold  of  the  Universe,  by  entering  into  it,  for  the 
purpose  of  controlling  it  in  the  interests  of  man.  Subse- 
quently the  Creed  tells  us  more  about  Jesus.  We  may 
not  run  before  the  record.  It  is  enough  for  the  present 
to  contemplate  the  one  fact,  that  the  Christian  Creed  is 
the  sole  symbol,  amid  all  philosophies  and  all  religions, 
that  sets  forth  the  Saviour.  It  alone  enables  us  to  look 
boldly  at  the  whirring  wheels  of  life,  and  bravely  to  lay 
hold  of  them,  with  the  knowledge  and  assurance  that 
they  are  but  doing  a  necessary  work  for  us,  and  that  how- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      127 

ever  they  may  wrench  and  grind  us,  they  cannot  destroy 
113 ;  but  that  we,  with  intact  personality,  shall  pass 
through  them  because  of  the  Saviour. 

Some  things  are  necessary  in  the  salvation  wrought  by 
Jesus.  All  men,  because  finite,  must  come  under  certain 
consequences,  that  necessarily  result  from  His  laying  hold 
of  the  Universe  for  man's  sake.  Many  things  also  re- 
main voluntary,  touching  this  new  condition  of  things. 
Both  these  points  however  touch  the  subject  of  sin,  and 
therefore  belong  to  a  subsequent  article.  Thus  far  we 
have  come  only  to  the  unique,  and  stupendous  fact,  that 
God,  no  longer  remaining  far  off,  has  by  the  Saviour 
come  personally  into  the  Universe,  to  confer  with  per- 
sonal man,  to  vindicate  humanity's  consciousness  of  su- 
periority amidst  and  lordship  over  the  universe,  and  to 
accomplish  its  management  and  control  in  the  nature  of 
man,  for  the  utmost  satisfaction  of  every  man  of  good 
wiU.  Not  a  compulsory  salvation  !  That  would  conflict 
with  man's  indefeasible  right,  and  glorious  consciousness, 
of  personal  freedom  of  choice  or  refusal.  This  also  is  pre- 
mature. We  are  yet  only  conversant  with  the  fact,  not 
with  all  the  limits  and  relations,  of  the  work  of  Jesus. 

This  fact  however  is  immeasurably  glorious,  and  in- 
comparable. It  stands  alone,  and  unmatched,  amid  all 
realities  of  life  and  possibility.  HoAvever  any  man  may, 
in  his  freedom,  use  or  neglect  it,  there  is  no  fact  more 
wonderful  or  more  practical ;  this  Universe  has  known 
the  Advent  of  its  Lord,  and  by  that  Advent  man  is 
enabled  to  vindicate  his  conscious  superiority  over  the 
universe,  and  if  he  will  may  occupy  his  rightful  seat  of 
lordship.  He  cannot  escape,  indeed,  what  are  called 
*'  the  necessities  of  mortal  existence " ;  but  he  may  go 
through,  even  under  them  all,  confident  that  nothing 
shall  by  any  means  hurt  him. 


128      THE  CREED  AND  MODEEK  THOUGHT.' 

Turning  round  from  the  Universe,  and  looking  up  to 
God,  in  faith  believing,  we  perceive  that  belief  in  One, 
Father,  Almighty  includes  a  sense  of  relationship  to 
Him.  Terms  of  language  fail  to  express  adequately  the 
idea  of  this  relationship.  He,  as  the  Absolute,  is  inde- 
pendent of  relations  ;  but  we,  as  finite  creatures,  must 
bear  relations  to  Him,  whom  we  believe  to  be  The  Infi- 
nite. We  leave,  as  beyond  our  scope,  the  thought  of  God 
as  He  is  in  Himself ;  and  draw  no  conclusions  in  either 
way,  as  to  the  effect  upon  Him  of  our  lives.  Obedience 
or  disobedience  to  Him — The  Lawgiver,  always  true, 
just  and  consistent — produces  effects  in  and  upon  us. 
We  dare  not,  out  of  our  own  knowledge,  say  that  they 
produce  effects  upon  Him.  Nor  dare  we  say  that  they 
do  not.  We  are  simply,  in  and  of  ourselves,  unable  to 
affirm  either  way. 

We  must  however  deny' all  consciousness,  and  recoil 
on  nothingness,  unless  we  allow  the  sense  or  appercep- 
tion, in  all  mankind,  of  relationship  to  God.  Within 
every  human  person  is  a  will,  through  which  he  chooses 
or  refuses.  This  will  every  person  practically  treats  as 
free.  However  perplexing  any  theory  about  free-will  be- 
comes, when  viewed  in  connection  with  The  Absolute 
Jehovah,  it  is  appealed  to  univei^ally  in  all  dealings  of 
man  with  man  :  and,  even  when  our  minds  become  up- 
lifted towards  God,  motives  are  the  first  things  considered 
as  soon  as  thought  leaves  the  abstract,  and  comes  into 
any  consideration  of  personal  duties  towards  Him,  or 
desires  for  gratifications  from  Him.  With  the  first 
perception  of  motive,  springs  the  irrepressible  conviction, 
that  we  can  and  may  accept  or  decline  the  motive. 
Whether  explicable  or  not  to  the  logical  faculty,  I  know, 
and  I  know  that  every  one  else  knows,  that  freedom  to 
choose  or  refuse,  even  before  God,  is  in  every  human 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      129 

person.  Moreover,  this  practical  freedom  of  will  is  in- 
alienable. It  cannot  be  put  into  the  possession  of  another 
person.  It  is  possible  indeed  to  enslave  it,  in  every 
detail ;  and  thus  mind,  heart,  conscience,  body,  every 
part  may  do  the  mere  bidding  of  another  ;  but  the  dig- 
nity and  responsibility  of  free-will,  has  been  already 
manifested  in  the  act  of  primary  submission  :  while 
every  time  the  accepted  authority  is  obeyed,  there  is  a 
distinct  moral  act — consciously  or  unconsciously — done, 
viz.  :  that  of  willing  to  subject  the  will. 

This  freedom  of  will  is  of  more  value  to  any  person, 
than  aught  else.  When  given  up,  as  to  any  detail, 
it  is  felt  to  be  a  concession,  or  a  submission.  The 
idea,  of  giving  it  up  wholly,  can  only  be  endured  by 
one  to  whom  soul-slavery  is  indifferent.  Every  true 
man  has  that  keen  sense  of  personal  dignity,  which 
compels  him  to  claim  the  right,  aye  the  necessity,  to 
say  even  unto  God,  '  I  choose  or  I  refuse,  I  will  or  I  will 
not'! 

The  believer  in  God  having  exercised  this  liberty,  be- 
comes aware  of  possible  and  actual,  personal  estrange- 
ment from  God.  It  is  his  better  nature,  a  certain  under- 
lying depth  of  interior  consciousness,  that  assents  to 
the  first  ai'ticle  in  the  Creed.  When  uttered,  the  fact 
appears  both  solemn,  and  fearful.  Two  facts  indeed 
stand  over  against  each  other.  God,  The  True  and 
Pure,  is  ;  and  man,  the  free  and  fallen,  is  also.  The  dis- 
cord between  man  and  man,  as  well  as  that  between  man 
and  his  material  surroundings,  which  all  history  pro- 
claims, is  evidently  now  at  work.  Every  person  stands 
in  the  midst  of  it.  Within,  also,  this  discord  reaches. 
It  is  allied  to  the  sense  of  right  and  wrong.  Discord, 
both  without  and  within,  is  found  to  be  the  struggle  of 
wrong  against  right.  A  faculty,  or  a  voice,  or  a  spiritual 
6* 


130      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

sense,  called  conscience  cognizes  right  and  wrong.  Its 
cognizance  is  intuitive.  Understanding  perceives,  but 
cannot  comprehend  it.  The  logical  faculty  cannot  dis- 
sect it.  The  will  is  moved,  though  not  controlled  by  it, 
and  the  affections  recognize  its  authority.  In  return  all 
our  powers  exercise  influence  upon  it.  Its  position  how- 
ever is  in  the  foundation  of  our  nature.  Personal  morals 
rest  upon  it. 

Some  philosophers  indeed  attempt  to  explain  this 
common  human  sense  of  right  and  wrong.  They  define 
right  as  '  that  which  is  upon  the  whole  most  conducive  to 
happiness ',  and  wrong  as  its  opposite.  Expediency  is 
therefore  the  gist  of  both.  Consequently,  if  any  one 
chooses  to  risk  doing  wrong,  it  ceases  to  be  wrong  to 
him  when  it  does  not  diminish  his  own  happiness.  The 
weak  therefore  can,  upon  this  principle,  be  the  only 
wicked  ones  in  this  world. 

In  fact,  however,  the  calculations  for  personal  advan- 
tage, and  even  those  which  regard  the  happiness  of  the 
many,  are  totally  distinct  processes  from  thosiB  arising 
from  the  sense  of  right  and  wrong.  This  latter,  called 
the  moral  sense,  is  degraded  by  calculations  of  profit  or 
loss.  The  advantage  of  one  or  many,  when  brought  into 
view  under  a  question  of  right  and  wrong,  are  sponta- 
neously objected  to  by  the  moral  sense.  Their  consider- 
ation would  be  a  felt  degradation,  like  that  of  a  bribe  by 
a  judge  on  the  bench.  This  spontaneity  is  distinct  and 
irrefragable  proof,  that  expediency  and  the  moral  sense 
have  essentially  nothing  in  common.  It  is  impossible 
therefore  that  the  former  should  be  the  source  of  the  lat- 
ter. A  cause  cannot  contradict  its  own  effect,  and  be- 
come essentially  unlike  and  incongruous.  It  must  con- 
tain the  essential  elements  of  its  own  effect.  Hence  the 
greatest  advantage  of  the  greatest  number  could  never 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.      131 

have  originated  tlie  right ;  nor  a  regard  for  it  have  pro- 
duced the  moral  sense. 

Again  it  is  impossible  successfully  to  impugn  the  uni- 
versality, and  spontaneity  of  the  moral  sense.  That 
lowest  descent  of  human  degradation  has  not  yet  been 
found  ;  wherein  the  consciousness,  of  the  inherent  and 
ever-persistent  antagonism  of  right  and  wrong,  is  lost. 
The  power  of  the  fact,  over  Hfe  and  character,  is  greater 
or  less  in  all  persons,  and  indeed  in  every  person  under 
varying  times  and  conditions  ;  but  the  consciousness  of 
both  is  never  absolutely  losi  It  has  shadowy  existence 
even  in  brutes.  It  is  fully  distinct,  and  imperative  in 
'babes.  Indeed  it  is  more  than  a  consciousness  in  us,  at 
the  first  moment  of  thought  and  sensibility.  It  is  never 
a  mere  idea,  like  that  of  beauty,  or  sweetness.  From 
the  first,  it  carries  both  obligation  and  warning.  In  a 
word  the  natural  conscience,  from  the  very  first,  com- 
mands and  demands,  according  to  an  innate  cognition  of 
right  and  wrong. 

Careful  observation  will  discover  in  every  writer  upon 
the  "evolution  of  conscience",  an  evident,  though  in 
charity  we  may  hope  unconscious,  acknowledgment  of 
the  primary  or  innate  idea  of  right  and  wrong.  A  late 
writer,  for  instance,  argues  after  this  manner. 

"  I  perceive  that  my  existence  is  valuable  to  me.  It  is 
mine,  and  not  another's.  Other  men's  hves  are  theirs, 
and  not  mine.  This  mutual  antithesis  gives  rise  to  a 
sense  of  private  right  and  pubHc  obligation ;  out  of 
which,  in  the  roll  of  ages,  grows  conscience,  and  from 
which  in  the  evolutions  of  civilization  proceed  law  and 
public  authority." 

The  very  point  in  dispute  is  herein  quietly  assumed. 
In  fact  one's  own  valuing  of  one's  own  Hfe,  in  relation 
to  others  valuing  of  theirs,  instead  of  creating  the  sense 


132      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

of  right  and  obligation,  feels  this  sense  as  a  distinct,  ob- 
jective, ruling  power.  Expediency  may  grow  from  such 
experience  ;  but  expediency,  so  far  from  being  one  with 
the  right,  is  in  practice  the  constant  antagonist  of  the 
right.  Expediency  is  content  with  the  "  simple  plan  "  ; 
and  can  evolve  no  higher  law,  than  that  which  secures 
"  the  survival  of  the  fittest." 

Moreover  the  very  use  of  the  term  "right,"  in  this 
style  and  course  of  argumentation,  is  always  so  made,  as 
to  prove  that  the  very  objectors  themselves  recognize  its 
extra-human  origin.  It  has  authority  from  without  ; 
which  authority  all  men  acknowledge.  It  is  innate  or 
spontaneous  in  every  whole  man.  Every  attempt  to' 
analyze  it  manifests  its  indivisible,  essential  unity. 
Every  attempt  to  account  for  its  origin,  assumes  its  ex- 
istence. It  is  also  impossible  to  make  even  a  definition 
of  right,  which  does  not  assume  the  very  idea  itself. 

This  sense  of  right  and  wrong  naturally  coexists,  in 
every  human  person,  with  fi^ee  power  of  choice.  Thus 
endowed,  every  living,  thinking,  acting  person  has  done 
something  touching  right  and  wrong.  His  conscience 
bears  him  witness.  Hence  the  common  confession,  "  We 
have  left  undone  those  things  which  we  ought  to  have 
done ;  And  we  have  done  those  things  which  we  ought 
not  to  have  done  ". 

All  our  doings,  and  omissions  affect  our  character,  and 
condition.  The  health  of  the  body  is  no  more  suscepti- 
ble to  injury,  thix)ugh  unwholesome  physical  causes,  than 
is  the  health  of  the  soul  through  wrong  or  evil.  Hence 
evil  doings,  or  neglects,  produce  disorder.  Every  part 
they  affect  suffers.  Some  are  conscious  of  this,  and  con- 
fess, "  There  is  no  health  in  us  ". 

Sin  is  the  term  used  to  describe  these  acts,  and  neglects 
of  man  towards  God.     It  describes  bis  condition  also. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      133 

He  is  under  a  corruption  or  disease  of  sin  ;  and  is  placed 
amid  influences  and  temptations  to  sin. 

How  all  this  came  into  the  good  God's  creation,  we 
cannot  fully  explain.  There  is  a  dim  vision  of  heroic  ad- 
vancement, that  may  possibly,  in  the  future,  show  how 
mankind  have  thro'  it  been  made  capable,  as  they  could 
not  otherwise  have  been,  of  exaltation  through  suffering. 
In  this  same  line  of  vision,  comes  the  possible  manifesta- 
tion of  a  glorious  human  multitude,  submitting  freely 
their  wiUs  to  God's,  because  they  nobly  confide  wholly  in 
Him.  This  multitude  must  be  higher  than  any  mere 
ministers  of  even  Divine  commands  :  for  they  will  obey 
with  ever  active  choice.  Tho'  refusal  may  never  once 
enter  the  thought  of  their  satisfied  souls,  yet  their  con- 
scious assent  will  accompany  their  every  execution  of 
God's  will.  They  will  never  receive  a  threat,  nor  even 
forcible  command.  "  Partakers  of  the  Divine  nature  ", 
they  wiU  know  God  as  they  are  known  by  Him.  In  do- 
ing His  will,  they  wiU  act  out  their  own.  Altho'  now  and 
here,  while  the  warfare  of  sin  is  waging,  we  cannot  per- 
haps conceive  of  a  compensation,  that  will  more  than  re- 
pay humanity  for  its  darkness,  and  sorrow,  and  woe  on 
earth ;  yet  we  can  at  least  dimly  perceive,  how  such  a 
compensation  may  be  possible,  in  an  exaltation  to  the 
right  hand  of  The  Supreme,  far  above  the  seats  of  all 
other  creatures.  They  who  have  known  evil,  and  have 
passed  through  it,  can  become  consciously  god-hke. 
Others  may  be  glorious  and  beautiful  and  lovely  servants  ; 
but  only  these  can  be  'friends  of  God  '.  Compensation 
being  a  general  law  of  both  nature  and  grace,  we  may, 
through  it,  perceive  the  harmony  amid  all  God's  dealings 
which  subsists  between  the  exalted  glory  of  friendship  at 
God's  right  hand,  and  the  sore  battle  of  mortal  hfe  against 
sin  and  evil. 


134      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Sin  however  exists,  as  a  fact,  irrespective  of  any 
opinions  we  may  have  as  to  its  fitness  in  creation,  or  any 
estimate  we  may  form  of  the  compensations  which  stand 
over  against  it.  Whatever  aspect  it  may  take,  both  the 
essence  and  the  effect  of  it  are  man's  estrangement  from 
God.  This  estrangement  is  both  in  condition,  and  char- 
acter. As  a  condition  it  is  fearful,  because,  in  some  sense, 
it  is  separation  from  The  Father.  As  a  character  it  is 
grievous,  and  shocking ;  grievous  as  corrupting,  and 
shocking  as  basely  ungrateful. 

All  this  is  easily  shown  by  appeals  to  common  con- 
sciousness. Excuses  indeed  are  not  wanting,  by  which 
even  believers  attempt  to  palliate  the  vileness,  and  dimin- 
ish or  even  remove  the  guiltiness  of  sin.  Indeed  some, 
trying  to  stand  outside  human  experience,  presume  to 
view  sin  from  the  Divine  position.  These  say  that  sin 
either  cannot  be  at  all,  or  cannot  be  radically  j)ermanent 
and  finally  destructive  ;  because  then,  in  God's  own  cre- 
ation, evil  would  have  prevailed  against  His  own  essence 
of  goodness  and  love.  The  answer  to  this  argument  is 
the  old  one,  viz.  :  man  cannot  place  himself  where  God 
stands,  nor  can  he  comprehend  how  the  Absolute  bears 
any  relation  to  us  ;  and  consequently,  it  is  impossible  for 
him  to  know,  as  God  knows,  how  sin  came,  or  what  it  is. 

Reverting  therefore  to  the  only  tenable  ground — that 
of  human  consciousness  including  perception  and  judg- 
ment— we  find  sin  a  reality.  We  know  and  are  assured, 
that  both  as  a  race  and  as  individuals  we  are  out  of  har- 
mony with  the  good  God.  We  wish  it  were  not  so.  We 
desire  to  be  brought  back,  to  full  and  sweet  accord  with 
Him.  The  common  sense  of  mankind  confesses  that  in 
and  with  God  are  peace,  and  rest  and  joy.  The  deep  and 
best  affections  yearn  towards  Him  filially.  No  doubt 
many  disturbances  without,  and  some  faithlessness  within 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      135 

all  and  every  man,  counteract  common  sense,  and  cloud 
tlie  heart's  yearnings  :  but  they  are  not  enough  to  de- 
stroy the  consentient,  conscious  testimony  of  all  mankind, 
that  the  best  blessedness  that  could  befall  us,  would  be 
reconciliation  with  God. 

The  Creed  answers  this  conviction,  this  confession,  this 
longing  of  mankind.  It  meets  that  strong  and  bitter 
consciousness  of  estrangement  from  God,  by  proclaiming 
The  Saviour.  Names  in  the  Creed  are  things.  Jesus 
means,  and  therefore  He  is.  Saviour. 

We  cannot  save  ourselves,  for  creatures  have  no  stand- 
ing independent  on  the  Creator.  Self-saviours  must  be 
self-sufficient.  Every  one,  who  deeply  knows  himself, 
has  no  disposition  to  rely  on  self.  Indeed,  the  desire  of 
all  is  to  be  taken  up  by  one  who  is  able  to  save,  placed 
where  no  danger  can  enter,  and  made  fit  for  the  peaceful 
region. 

It  is  conceivable,  that  man  may  become  foolish  enough 
to  repose  on  pride.  He  may  elect  to  follow  his  present 
desires,  and  to  confine  his  hopes  to  materialism,  or  to 
the  philosophy  of  the  hour.  Kef  using  to  view  with  open 
eye,  the  underlying  consciousness  which  he  shares  with 
all  men  ;  or  being  actually  blinded  to  it,  by  long  neglect 
of  the  image  it  reflects  ;  or  scorning  it,  because  it  is  com- 
mon to  all ;  he  may  say  and  possibly  think,  that  he  has 
no  conviction  of  sin,  and  hence  no  sense  of  need  of  Jesus. 
Such  person,  if  he  exist,  is  indeed  beyond  the  reach  c£ 
the  Creed.  "  Believers  "  however  do  not  believe  he  exists. 
They  have  enough  knowledge  of  human  nature,  to  per- 
ceive how  they  themselves — reposing  on  pride — might 
arrive  at  just  that  stage  of  scepticism.  Hence  the  answer 
is  both  argument  and  exhortation:  "The  fear  of  the 
Lord  is  the  instruction  of  wisdom  ;  and  before  honor  is 
humility".     Prov.  XV.  33. 


136      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

To  the  common  sense  of  human  necessity,  tlie  Creed 
presents  Jesus.  He  meets  every  want,  and  answers  every 
cry.  His  name  is  a  name  of  peace.  It  does  not  present 
on  its  front  a  menace,  nor  even  a  warning.  It  is  the  em- 
bodiment of  mercy  and  tenderness.  It  descends  through 
sin's  darkness,  and  overspreads  mankind :  "  The  true 
Light,  which  Hghteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world."     S.  Jn.  I.  9. 

What  Jesus  may  prove  to  those,  who  reject  Him,  it 
would  be  premature  now  to  consider.  It  is  enough,  at 
present,  to  show  that  His  mission,  primarily,  to  all  men, 
is  one  of  love  and  good-will.  So  the  Creed  sets  Him 
forth  by  His  name  Jesus,  The  Saviour  ! 

Nor  does  it  leave  His  ability  and  power  doubtful. 
He  is  not  merely  a  merciful  person,  having  only  an  in- 
tention to  do  His  best  to  save  us  ;  but  he  is  also  *'  Lord  ", 
even  "  One  Lord  Jesus".  Not  advancing  too  fast,  or  too 
far  ;  we  leave  to  future  inquiry,  the  evidence  of  the  Divine 
Lordship  of  Jesus.  Just  here  and  now,  we  simply  con- 
sider the  comfort  of  the  fact,  and  its  profound  adaption 
to  the  common  sense  of  human  necessity.  Conscience, 
which  speaks  of  right  and  wrong,  is  universal.  Con- 
sciousness of  error  and  fault,  is  almost  equally  extensive. 
Assurance  of  blessedness  dies  under  this  consciousness, 
and  the  comfort  of  hope  departs  from  a  burthened  con- 
science. Nor  can  pity  alone  repair  the  great  damage. 
"We  must  have  a  Saviour,  not  only  pitiful  but  powerful. 
Sweet  and  comforting  as  the  name  of  Jesus  is,  the  ef- 
fectual Saviour  must  have  influence  at  least,  equal  to  the 
procurement  of  Salvation. 

As  deliverance  and  comfort  are  not  within  our  own 
power,  nor  within  the  compass  of  the  powers  of  all  crea- 
tures combined ;  and  even  as  they  can  only  come  from 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      137 

Him,  Wlio  is  supreme  over  all  accidents  and  conditions  ; 
it  becomes  evident  that  the  real,  effective  Saviour  of  men 
must  be  Lord  over  all  things.  He  must  indeed  be  the 
One  Lord,  to  Whom  "  all  power  is  given  ....  in  heaven 
and  in  earth  ".    S.  Matt.  XXVHL  18. 

The  utmost  need  of  every  man,  and  of  all  men  is  sup- 
plied in  the  reality  of  "The  One  Lord  Jesus."  Con- 
science lays  its  burdens  on  Him.  He  bears  them  all  "iu 
His  own  body  ".  Consciousness  unexpressed  brings  the 
darkness  of  its  deep  before  Him  ;  and  the  light  of  heaven 
illumines  it,  melting  its  frost,  and  calling  forth,  through 
hope,  upspringing  finictifying  life.  Consciousness  uttered 
speaks  its  doubts,  fears,  or  even  confusions  to  Him  ;  and 
His  Lordship  answers  it  with  wisdom,  divine  promises, 
and  the  gift  of  grace. 

In  all  the  range  of  human  philosophy,  and  through  all 
the  wonders  of  human  history,  where  is  aught  to  be  com- 
pared to  this  simple  utterance  of  the  Creed?  "What 
speaks,  like  it,  to  all  mankind?  What,  hke  it,  so  en- 
compasses all  human  necessities  ;  or  goes  down  tlu-ough 
all  human  sense  of  need  ?  Is  there  anything  that  indi- 
viduals, communities,  or  the  whole  family  of  man  living 
and  dead  requu-e,  which  lies  beyond  the  scope  of  "  The 
One  Lord  Jesus"  ? 

Again  we  find  The  Creed  true  to  man  as  man,  respect- 
ful to  his  dignity,  and  equal  to  his  needs.  It  does  not 
enforce  doctrines  irrespective  of  man's  rightful  freedom  of 
choice.  It  shows  a  fact  indeed  with  the  utmost  distinct- 
ness of  positive  expression  ;  but  it  is  the  fact,  which  duly 
regards  man's  freedom,  and  nobly  supplies  his  wants. 
To  the  self-sufficient,  only,  may  its  word  have  the  sem- 
blance of  arrogance.  To  all,  who  are  insufficient  for 
themselves,  and  honestly  confess  their  need  of  helj),  it 
offers  that  alone  which  free  man  can,  with  rightful  self- 


138      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

respect,  receive  ;  and  tliat  only  which  godhke  man,  fallen, 
can  with  digniiied  penitence  accept. 

Salvation,  whatever  its  accessories,  is  essentially  har- 
mony in  ourselves  and  with  all  that  now  does  or  ever  may 
bear  relations  to  us.  This  we  can  neither  make,  nor 
conquer.  It  must  come  to  us  as  a  boon.  A  Saviour 
must  give  it.  "The  One  Lord  Jesus"  only  offers  it, 
specially  to  every  capacity,  comprehensively  to  the  whole 
organic  "I",  and  generally  to  the  vast  unity  "We". 

The  Creed  therefore,  in  this  i)art  of  its  second  article, 
stands  alone,  not  simply  pre-eminent  but  apart  in  soH- 
tary,  yet  all-attractive  altitude,  like  the  sun,  shedding 
light,  and  awakening  life.  The  truth  of  its  declaration  is 
assumed,  not  as  yet  proved  by  formal  arguments.  Be  it 
true  ;  then  the  greatest,  and  the  sweetest,  and  most  em- 
bracing comfort,  is  a  reality  for  all  men  to  rejoice  in, 
and  for  every  man  of  good  will  to  flee  into  to  find  peace. 
Take  it  away,  and  as  well  may  the  sun  be  blotted  out  of 
the  sky.  No  other  than  Jesus  "  hath  brought  life  and  im- 
mortality to  Hght ".  The  comparison  between  Him,  and 
all  other  rehgious  teachers,  would  be  between  good  and 
bad  guides  to  self-help,  and  Him,  Wlio  alone  pours  sal- 
vation into,  through,  beneath  and  all  around  self -insuffi- 
cient man  and  mankind.  The  originators  of  other  reli- 
gions give  curious  directions  about  kindling  the  flame  of 
wisdom,  and  shedding  the  warmth  of  virtue.  Jesus  only 
pours  down  light  from  beaven,  and  revives  souls,  help- 
less because  dark  and  dead.  Soil  may  possibly  be  made 
to  bear  within  small  heated  houses,  at  great  cost,  with 
partial  success  ;  but  even  then  sunlight  must  be  filtered 
among  the  fronds.  Only  the  great  Sun,  that  lights  and 
warms  the  earth,  can  make  the  wilderness  blossom,  and 
the  fertile  fields  yield  fruit. 

We  say  nothing  of  results,  for  the  harvest  time  of  the 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      139 

Gospel  has  not  yet  come.  We  only  appeal  to  the  com- 
mon sense  of  the  honest  and  true  hearted,  who  look 
deeply  into  themselves  and  broadly  over  mankind  ;  as 
well  as  to  the  consciously  self-insufficient,  whatever  their 
grade  of  intelligence  ;  and  fearlessly  ask,  '  What  other 
is  comparable  with  Jesus  :  what  other  so  saves,  as  to 
leave  us  whole,  unlimited  and  unshackled,  with  every 
capacity  and  faculty,  with  aU  their  combinations,  restored 
to  perfectness  ? ' 

The  operations  and  influences  which  may  effect  the 
result  of  the  salvation  wrought  by  Jesus,  are  not  yet  sug- 
gested by  The  Creed.  It  opens  with  broad  outlines.  It 
exhibits  first  the  vast,  capacious  and  glorious  fact  of  One 
Lord  Saviour.  In  doing  this,  it  at  least  suggests  its  own 
emanation  from  the  source  of  wisdom.  Its  simplicity  is 
matched  by  its  comprehensiveness.  It  embraces  all 
mankind,  while  it  reaches  down  into  and  uplifts  every 
living  function  of  every  human  creature.  Nothing  else 
so  comprehends  "  We,"  or  so  pervades,  permeates  and 
purifies  "  I ".  The  One  Lord  Saviour,  only,  offers  to  en- 
wrap all  mankind  in  the  arms  of  His  mercy,  and  renew 
in  every  willing  person  sdl  that  by  any  cause  has  been 
decayed  in  body,  soul  or  spirit.  "  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye 
that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest."    S.  Matt.  XI.  28. 


14:0      THE  CKEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 


^Whence  comes  this  person,  with  claims  so  vast,  and 
promises  so  comprehensive  ?  All  mankind  constitute  in 
aggregate  a  vast  load  to  be  uplifted,  while  every  human 
creature  is  weighted  with  an  endless  variety  of  both  im- 
perious and  delicate  personal  necessities.  Who  is  this 
Being,  that  meets  the  general  human  sense,  and  intensely 
personal,  common  conviction  of  the  need  of  help ;  not 
simply  by  the  obviously  wise  injunction  to  '  cast  all  care 
on  God  ',  but  by  a  call  on  all  the  human  race  to  confide 
in  Himself,  with  a  promise  to  "  embrace  them  in  the  arms 
of  His  mercy  "  ?  Again  we  recall  His  words.  They  are 
of  Divine  import.  None  but  the  Almighty  can  make  them 
good.  They  are  either  inexpressibly  presumptuous,  and 
cruelly  deceptive,  or  they  contain  and  convey  the  united 
mercy  and  power  of  God.  "  Come  unto  Me  all  ye  that 
labor,  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 
S.  Matt.  XI.  28. 

The  individual  man,  who  spoke  these  words,  is  a  his- 
toric character,  whose  life  and  work  on  earth  are  more 
fully  attested  than  those  of  any  other  person  in  history. 
So  much  is  easily  established.  But  a  man,  however  in- 
comparable, if  merely  a  man,  may  not  be  confided  in  as 
a  sufficient  Saviour  for  all  mankind.  The  perfect  truth 
of  Jesus,  which  has  never  been  successfully  impugned, 
makes — so  long  as  it  stands — His  most  stupendous  asser- 
tions credible.  His  vast  claims  sure,  and  His  promises 
trustworthy.     He  must  therefore  stand  on  another  plane. 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      141 

as  well  as  on  that  of  natural  humanity.  In  nature,  or  in 
office,  He  must  excel  every  other  human  creature.  A 
man,  to  whom  all  men  in  all  time  are  called  to  '*  come  ", 
with  all  their  burdens  ;  and  Who  promises  "  rest "  to  all 
that  come,  is  surely  some  wonderful,  godlike  being.  In- 
deed, long  before  these  words  of  Jesus  were  spoken, 
Jewish  ears  had  been  familiar  with  exactly  the  same 
promise  from  God  Himself.  Their  sacred  books  more 
than  once  declare,  "  The  Lord  upholdeth  all  that  fall ", 
"  The  Lord  raiseth  them  that  are  bowed  do^vn."  Ps. 
CXLV.  14. 

Herein  lies  the  contact  point  of  that  practical  necessity 
God  is  to  man.  Here  human  hope  centres.  Here  man's 
salvation  begins. 

Who  is  this,  that  stands  thus  at  this  most  intimate, 
vital  place,  between  God  and  man  ? 

The  One  Lord  Jesus — The  Saviour  ! 

Aye !  but  what  are  His  credentials,  and  what  His 
authority  ? 

All  this  inevitable  questioning,  which  springs  out  of 
human  reason  and  common  sense,  finds  its  answer  in  the 
next  word  of  that  one,  most  naturally  ordered  of  all 
formulas  of  faith,  "  The  Creed  ". 

"  I,  We  beheve  in  One  Lord  Jesus,  THE  CHEIST." 
God,  our  Father,  in  Whom  we  may  confide,  has  anointed 
The  Saviour.  He  is  man,  but  not  merely  man.  Ordi- 
nary, natural,  human  relations  neither  hold  nor  explain 
Him.  His  stupendous  claims  may  be  allowed,  and  His 
promises  relied  upon  because  Our  Father  hath  chosen, 
ordained  and  anointed  Him. 

Again  the  appeal  is  made  confidently  to  the  common 
sense,  and  common  reason,  of  mankind.  All  established 
principles  and  known  facts  of  human  nature  accord  with, 
and  therefore  attest  the  possibility  and  fitness  of  an  ap- 


142      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

IDointment  by  God,  Wlio  is  love,  of  One,  Who  shall  bear 
His  authority  and  be  His  Christ,  His  Anointed  One  ; 
commissioned  to  effect  the  salvation  of  men. 

We  do  not  now  revive  the  question,  as  to  the  absolute 
need  of  this  interposition  of  a  Saviour  between  God  and 
man.  It  is  impossible  for  man  to  discuss  that  question 
absolutely  ;  for  that  brings  up  its  Divine  side,  whereon 
one  of  the  factors,  by  which  the  need  could  be  decided,  is 
God,  Who  is  too  vast  for  our  comprehension.  Here  again, 
coming  to  the  shores  of  The  Infinite,  we  take  up  what  its 
depths  cast  forth.  We  confess  that  we  know  nothing  of 
any  "  need  "  God  had  for  interposing  Jesus.  We  can  frame 
certain  harmonious  conceptions,  out  of  such  apprehen- 
sion of  God  as  finite  mortals  may  attain  ;  and  from  them 
show  how  God  comes  nearer  to  man  in  a  Divine-human 
manifestation  and  indwelling  than  He  could  as  The  far 
off  Infinite  One.  But  this  would  be  unnecessary,  and 
uncongenial  with  the  line  of  thought  in  pursuit.  It  is 
enough  to  take  the  plain  fact  of  the  Creed,  and  accept 
The  Christ,  at  the  side  where  it  takes  hold  on  humanity. 
For  us  at  least — human  creatures,  sinful  and  frail  with  a 
life  battle  raging  around  us,  and  a  destiny  to  determine, 
every  one  for  himself,  yet  all  affecting  all,  and  each  the 
other — it  is  a  clear  and  joyful  fact,  that  The  Saviour 
bears  the  anointing  of  the  Father  ;  and  that  He  comes 
not  only  with  human  sympathy,  and  power  of  lordship, 
but  also  redolent  with  the  oil  of  gladness,  whereby  He 
is  appointed  and  manifested  as  God's  chosen  messenger 
and  medium  of  Salvation.  As  man's  personal  needs  are 
met  and  answered  by  The  Jesus,  so  is  all  assurance  of 
His  amplitude  of  authority,  and  fulness  of  power,  given 
in  The  Christ. 

The  Creed  thus  answers  every  just  demand  both  of 
the  human  heart  and  mind :  but  the  Anointed  Savioub 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      143 

must  be  a  veritable,  objective  person.  The  reality  of 
His  existence  is  not  proved  by  His  subjective  adaption  to 
human  needs.  It  may  be  thus  shown  probable,  and  a 
primary  presumption  given  of  its  reality ;  but  tbe  up- 
lifted cry  of  toiling,  burthened,  or  imprisoned  humanity, 
would  be  all  in  vain,  unless  the  Christ  stood  out,  in  and 
with  every  generation,  in  greater  or  less  distinctness,  as 
the  Deliverer,  whom  God  has  chosen  and  ordained. 

From  the  subjective  common  sense  of  the  human  need 
of  a  Saviour  of  mankind,  and  from  the  common  reason 
w^hich  demands  that  He  be  God's  anointed,  we  turn  and 
call  next,  naturally  and  imperatively,  for  adequate  exter- 
nal evidence  that  God  indeed  ordained  Him,  and  that  He 
is  in  truth  the  One  Lord  Jesus. 

Were  we  organic  machines  only,  designed  to  operate 
according  to  the  mere  forces  applied  to  us,  then  we  might 
do  our  appointed  work,  without  any  consideration  or 
even  distinct  consciousness  of  the  power  that  at  first  set 
and  now  keeps  us  in  motion.  But,  believing  in  God, 
and  knowing  our  own  personality,  reason,  and  freedom 
of  will,  we  are  enabled  and  compelled  to  inquire  into  the 
evidence  of  things. 

Evidence,  of  the  authority  and  mission  of  Jesus  Christ, 
must  be  external.  Primarily  it  is  only  probable  that  He 
is  all  He  claims,  because  He  exactly  meets  and  entirely 
fulfils  human  wants  ;  and  again,  primarily,  it  is  only  prob- 
able that  our  Heavenly  Father  ordained  and  sent  Him 
because  God  is  love. 

Love  is  always  dual ;  expressive  and  receptive.  Both 
elements  always  exist  in  it,  ever  active  and  reciprocal. 
Tho'  we  may  not  know  God's  love  in  its  fulness,  yet 
we  know  that  He  is  love,  and  therefore  both  a  giver  and 
a  receiver.     Hence  the  Divine  Fatherhood  includes  not 


14:4:  THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

only  the  masculine  element  of  love,  wliicli  might  be  con- 
tent with  the  outpouring  of  benevolence  ;  but  the  femi- 
nine element  also,  which  requires  the  response  of  thank- 
ful communion.  In  order  that  man  may  respond  thus, 
it  is  needful  that  God  reveal  to  us,  not  merely  His  power 
and  majesty,  but  Himself  personally.  A  revelation  out 
of  Heaven  is  therefore  primarily  probable. 

The  fact  of  such  revelation  must  appear  by  such  evi- 
dences as  the  subject  admits,  and  its  object  is  capable  of 
receiving.  It  must  coincide  with  the  Divine  perfections, 
as  far  as  we  can  understand  or  apprehend  them,  and  be 
adapted  to  human  capacities.  When  first  made,  some 
man  or  body  of  men  must  receive  it.  Afterwards  it  must 
be  transmitted.  Organizations,  symbolic  ordinances, 
rites  and  words — any,  but  better  all — may  be  media  of 
transmission.  It  may  develop  thro'  many  stages,  and 
grow  by  additions ;  but  the  source  must  always  be  Di- 
vine, the  media  finally  human,  and  the  authority  clear 
and  strong. 

All  these  requirements  are  complied  with  and  every 
essential  part  of  them  fulfilled  by  the  facts  assumed,  as- 
serted, or  necessarily  implied  in  "  The  Book."  If  his- 
tory can  be  at  all  believed,  The  Bible  has  grown  with  the 
developing  of  a  visible  body  or  kingdom,  to  which  the 
oracles  of  God  have  been  committed.  It  is  not  a  single 
composition ;  such  as  a  philosopher  might  have  con- 
ceived, and  evolved,  or  a  mere  earthly  power  have  set 
forth.  It  is  not  a  compilation,  such  as  the  wise  of  one 
age  or  of  several  ages  might  have  thrown  together.  It  is 
not  a  single  work,  such  as  one  prophet  or  leader  of  men, 
might  have  composed  for  the  support  of  a  new  religion. 
In  a  manner  different  from  that  of  any  other  "  sacred 
book ",  and  with  a  simplicity  and  openness  that  invites 
and  answers  all  frank  and  honest  criticism,  the  Bible 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      145 

grew  around  a  well  attested  and  congruous  evolution  of 
a  Divine  Human  Kingdom  ;  whose  mission  was  to  bear 
witness  to  God  before  the  world,  whose  treasure  was  the 
truth  of  revelation,  and  whose  assured  hope  was  God's 
l^resent  and  everlasting  favor. 

The  superiority  of  The  Bible  over  all  other  books,  as  to 
its  profound  wisdom,  universal  charity,  and  pure  moral- 
ity, is  not  now  dwelt  upon.  This  internal  evidence  of  its 
Divine  origin,  though  clear  and  strong,  is  to  be  estab- 
lished by  untiring  patience  of  argument,  and  unending 
elucidation  of  its  beauty  and  strength.  Now  we  only 
have  in  view  its  central,  objective  fact.  We  are  seeking 
for  its  revelations  of  man's  Anointed  Saviour.  As  Jesus 
once  challenged  all  men,  and  no  one  yet  has  taken  up  his 
gage — "  Which  of  you  convicteth  Me  of  sin  ?  "  S.  Jn.  VIIL 
43 — so  may  the  challenge  stand,  daring  men  to  convict 
His  Book,  The  Bible,  of  inconsistency  with  truth  and 
righteousness.  Within  this  impregnable  citadel,  we 
search  for  what  the  Bible  contains  of  revelation  and  his- 
tory about  Jesus  Christ. 

If  this  revelation  shows  forth  a  Being,  great  enough  to 
encompass  all  human  needs,  high  enough  to  gratify  all 
human  aspirations,  lovely  enough  to  fill  all  human  long- 
ings, and  near  enough  to  meet  all  human  yearnings,  then 
must  this  Being  be  sufficient  for  humanity,  and  should  be 
accej^ted  by  every  human  creature.  If  the  history,  con- 
tained in  the  Bible,  presents  such  a  complete  Being  in 
veritable  personality,  and  sets  Him  forth  as  living  among 
men,  where  He  can  be  seen  and  known  and  tested  by 
well-established  principles  and  rules  of  just  criticism, 
then  whatever  is  real  and  true  in  Him  must  be  allowed. 
Evidence  concerning  Him  should  indeed  be  weighed, 
and  sifted  and  tried.  Favors  should  be  neither  asked 
nor  granted.  Only  may  it  be  assumed  and  claimed,  that 
7 


146      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

whatever  is  proved  concerning  Him,  should  be  accepted 
upon  adequate  evidence,  and  followed  both  logically  to 
its  consequences  and  joractically  to  its  requirements.  It  is 
not  admissible  to  set  boundaries,  within  the  senses  or  the 
reason,  beyond  which  man  may  not  be  permitted  to  pass 
if  he  can.  Spiritual  understanding  is  a  distinct  human 
faculty,  superior  to  sense  and  above  reason  ;  and  to  this 
faculty  two  functions  belong — comprehension  and  appre- 
hension. The  spirit  of  man  may  comprehend  what  can  lie 
within  its  measure;  but  what  exceeds  that  measure  it  may 
perceive  and  know,  i.e.  apprehend,  only  to  the  extent  of 
its  capacity.  Hence  while  God  must  ever  to  man  be  in- 
comprehensible, He  need  not  be  unknown.  Man's  sjiirit 
may  naturally  know  Him,  as  far  and  as  fully  as  its  natu- 
ral capacities  can  reach.  Being  created  and  finite  the 
human  spirit's  capacities  may  grow,  develoj),  or  be  en- 
larged. Hence  thro'  apprehension  they  may  continually 
know  more  and  more  about  God.  Through  this  channel 
a  Divine  Bevelation  may  flow  down  into  man,  and  pour 
out  into  history. 

Leaving — as  outside  our  present  line  of  inquirj^ — the 
details  of  criticism,  respecting  the  ample  revelation  and 
liistory  of  Jesus  Christ  contained  in  the  Bible,  and 
largely  treated  in  many  well  known  works  ;  we  inquire 
now  only  into  the  adaption  of  that,  its  central  fact,  to 
men  now  living  amid  the  habits  of  modei-n  thought. 

The  Christ  is,  to-day,  needful  as  ever  of  old.  Man's 
Jesus,  now  as  then,  can  be  only  Christ  of  God.  The 
historic  personage,  Who  was  manifested  as  the  Divinely 
anointed  Saviour,  must  be  living  now  and  saving  to  the 
-uttermost  all  who  come  unto  God  by  Him.  Belief,  involv- 
ing active  personal  trust  and  reliance,  cannot  be  placed  on 
a  mere  hero  of  the  past ;  it  must  rest  in  a  present,  all- 
powerful  heli3er.     His  credentials  therefore  must  be  both 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      147 

historic  and  contemporary.  He  must  be  seen  gleaming 
amid  the  gold  and  dross  of  earthly  records,  and  perceived 
now  and  here  operating  through  the  deepest  depths  of 
humanity. 

Him  The  Creed  only  sets  forth.  Modem  and  ancient 
man  alike  can  have  only  one  Jesus  Chkist.  Man  as  man 
must  have  Him,  or  wander  hopelessly  through  vain  con- 
jectures, until  finally,  falling  back  on  self,  in  self-insuffi- 
ciency he  sink  and  die. 


148  THE    CREED   AND   MODEKN    THOUGHT. 


"i5i0  ©nln  0on."  "®l)e  ©ulg-begotten  Son  of 
®olr." 

Modern  thought,  as  we  have  seen,  must  acknowledge 
a  power  of  apprehension,  by  which  man  may  know  God. 
This  knowledge  obviously  is  finite,  partial,  and  varied  ac- 
cording to  the  capacity  and  development  of  the  spirit  of 
the  person  knowing.  It  can  however  reach  any  and  all 
particulars,  that  lie  within  the  scope  of  the  spiritual  un- 
derstanding. As  man's  natural  perception  receives,  and 
his  reason  accepts  with  all  consequences,  the  mortal 
human  relationship  of  father  and  son  ;  so  ma}^  the  sjDirit 
not  reject,  as  impossible,  the  fact  of  such  relationship  in 
the  Divine  Existence.  There  is  nothing  actually  incredi- 
ble in  God  The  Father  begetting,  and  having  begotten 
from  all  eternity,  The  Son.  It  might  be  incredible  that 
God  had  begotten  sons,  because  that  seems  to  involve 
succession  in  time,  or  division  in  substance  ;  both  of 
which  ideas,  would  not  simply  exceed  our  apprehension, 
but  be  impossible  for  it  to  grasp. 

Though  it  would  be  great  folly  to  attempt  to  form  and 
set  forth  a  complete  delineation  of  God;  and  though 
shocking  absurdities  generally  follow  attempts  to  build  up 
doctrine  upon  any  single  Divine  attribute  ;  yet  man  may 
surely  look  up  towards  God  through  human  analogies, 
and  form  just  tho'  partial  conceptions  of  Him,  b}^  com- 
parison with  well  defined  realities  of  universal  humanity. 

While  therefore  it  might  be  presumptuous,  and  would 
certainly  be  vain,  to  inquire  into  the  mode  of  the  eternal 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOrGHT.      149 

begetting ;  and  while  it  would  confuse  us  to  attempt  to 
comprehend  that  timelessness  of  God,  whereby  the  be- 
getting continueth  forever  and  yet  The  Begotten  ever  is, 
existing  in  complete  personality,  and  full  fihal  relation- 
ship ;  yet  both  facts  we  are  capable  of  accepting,  through 
spiritual  apprehension.  All  we  ask  is :  firat,  that  the 
facts  be  proved  ;  and  second,  that  they  have  some  practi- 
cal bearing  upon,  or  significance  towards  us. 

I.  Proof  of  the  facts,  or  rather  two  sides  of  the  one  fact, 
can  of  course  only  come  through  revelation.  Such 
Divine  secrets,  can  be  known  originally  only  by  God 
Himself ;  nor  can  any  others  know  them  unless,  and  ex- 
cept as,  He  declares  them.  "The  Creed"  stands  vd\h. 
The  Bible.  It  can  be  successfully  maintained  that  the 
Bible  contains  the  full  record  of  revelation.  This  point 
lies  however  outside  the  line  of  present  inquiry.  Let  it 
suffice  here  to  remember  that  either  The  Bible  contains 
the  revelation  of  God,  or  else  that  revelation  has  never 
been  given.  Discoveries  in  science,  whatever  material- 
istic or  spirituaHstic  course  they  may  take,  evidently  can- 
not supersede  revelation.  "Canst  thou  by  searching 
find  out  God  ?  Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  to  per- 
fection ?  "  Job  XI.  7.  "  No  man  can  find  out  (even)  the 
work  that  God  maketh  from  the  beginning  to  the  end." 
Ec.  HI.  2.  How  much  less  Himself  and  the  mode  of  His 
being.  Therefore,  without  further  digression,  we  read  the 
facts  and  declarations  of  the  Bible,  in  order  to  discover 
what  is  the  Divine  revelation,  in  regard  to  the  son  ship 
unto  God  of  Jesus  CmiisT. 

Like  all  great  facts  both  in  and  out  of  revelation,  this 
also  grows  from  a  primary  germinal  timth,  up  through 
accretions  or  developments,  until  it  finally  stands  forth 
in  the  very  words  written  in  The  Creed.     It  is  unnecessary 


150  THE    CREED   AND   MODERN   THOTTGHT. 

to  ask  -whether  The  Bible  copied  the  historic  creed,  or 
The  Creed  followed  the  Bible.  It  is  neither  affirmed  nor 
denied  that  The  Creed  was  in  terms  formed  out  of  the 
Bible.  Its  terms  may  be  its  own,  either  originally  re- 
vealed or  clearly  drawn  from  "revelation."  All  that  can 
be  asked,  or  need  be  maintained,  is  that  it  accord  with 
the  one  book  of  God's  word. 

Without  dwelling  upon  the  plural  original  name  of 
the  Creator  given  in  the  first  sentence  of  Genesis,  and 
only  touching  upon  the  record  of  consultation,  wherein 
*'GoD  said.  Let  us  make  man  in  Our  image  after  Our 
likeness "  (Gen.  I.  26),  and  passing  by  those  numerous 
places  in  the  Old  Testament  wherein  "  The  Angel  of 
God  "  is  mentioned  in  terms  and  conditions,  that  suggest 
a  higher  post  and  nearer  relation  than  that  of  a  mere  mes- 
senger, or  servant  of  The  Most  High  ;  we  come  at  once  to 
the  first  uses  of  the  very  term  Son,  as  applied  to  a  person 
distinct  from  the  person  of  God,  The  Father.  In  the 
second  Psalm  God  is  represented  as  saying,  "  Thou  art 
My  Son,  This  day  have  I  begotten  Thee,"  "Kiss  The  Son 
lest  He  be  angry  ".  In  Isaiah  it  is  written  "  For  unto  us  a 
child  is  born  unto  us  a  Son  is  given,  and  the  government 
shall  be  upon  His  shoulder  ;  and  His  name  shall  be  called 
"Wonderful,  Counsellor,  The  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting 
Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace."     IX.  6. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  these  passages  were  origin- 
ally utterances  made  by  prophets,  who  appeared  now  and 
then  amid  the  historic  progress  of  a  slowly  developing 
hierarchical  and  national  pohty.  A  church  and  a  nation 
were  growing  around  one  central  idea,  and  looking  for- 
ward to  a  single  definite  consummation.  A  "  Messiah 
which  is  being  interpreted  Christ"  was  beUeved  in,  as 
the  real  ruler  of  this  pecuUar,  elect  people ;  while  His 
coming  or  manifestation  was  their  common  expectation 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      151 

and  cohesive  hope.  The  unvarying,  and  universal  tradi- 
tion, of  this  pecuhar  peoj^le,  conjoined  the  Messiah  with 
"  The  Son  "  of  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets. 

n. — "When  this  Expected  One  came,  His  advent  was 
public  and  clear  as  any  fact  of  human  existence.  Through 
all  His  career,  He  was  open  to  both  friends  and  foes. 
Both  heard  His  words  and  saw  His  works.  The  reality 
of  His  life  is  attested  to  this  age,  not  merely  through 
historic  remains,  as  the  great  names  of  past  ages  are  at- 
tested ;  but  patent  to  aU  eyes  exists  now  a  visible  body, 
or  church,  which  is  founded  upon  Him,  could  not  have 
rested  upon  a  myth  or  an  error,  much  less  a  falsity,  and 
therefore  could  never  have  come  into  existence  without 
Ilim.  The  Christ  of  history  is  far  more  fully  attested, 
than  any  Caesar  of  ancient  times.  Not  merely  do  tradi- 
tion and  monuments  evidence  His  living  ;  but  an  active, 
vigorous  and  aggressive  organization  now  offers  and  ever 
has  offered  His  memorial,  in  eucharistic  sacrifice,  before 
God  ;  now  preaches  and  ever  has  preached  His  word,  as 
the  word  of  God  ;  and  now  defies,  as  it  ever  has  success- 
fully  defied,  all  enemies  to  find  one  fault  in  Him,  or  to 
impugn  His  truth.  However  originated  and  trans- 
mitted—points to  be  hereafter  considered — this  church, 
in  every  age  and  amid  all  trials,  has  remained  constant 
in  its  testimony  to  the  both  historic  and  living  Christ. 

He  was  pre-eminent  in  wisdom  and  power  of  speech. 
*' Never  man  spake  hke  this  man."  S.  Jn.  VH.  46.  His 
wisdom  and  His  truth  stand  equally  upon  an  immovable 
basis.  He  was  neither  deceived,  nor  could  have  been  a  de- 
ceiver. What  He  asserted  He  knew,  and  His  words  must 
therefore  be  taken  as  He  meant  them.  It  is  not  possible 
for  man  to  weigh  and  measure  His  assertions,  because 
He  was  evidently  greater  than  all  men.     Others  therefore 


152      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

— not  being  able  to  convict  Him  of  fault  and  sin — must 
receive  from  Him  truth  as  tliey  can  contain  it.  What- 
ever He  clearly  declared  about  Himself,  was  therefore 
real  because  His  wisdom  assures  it,  and  accurate  be- 
cause His  truth  attests  it. 

Now  this  unrivalled  and  unimpeachable  person  ha- 
bitually sanctioned  "The  Law  and  The  Prophets,"  and 
claimed  for  Himself  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures: 
"  They  are  they  which  testify  of  me,"  S.  Jn.  V.  39. 
"  And  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets  He  ex- 
pounded unto  them  in  all  the  scriptures  the  things  con- 
cerning Himself."  S.  Lu.  XXIV.  27.  "  Think  not  that  I 
am  come  to  destroy  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  I  am  not 
come  to  destroy  but  to  fulfil."     S.  Matt.  V.  17. 

He  stands  out  therefore,  serenely  and  naturally,  in  His 
appointed  place  amid  the  revelations  of  God  to  man,  and 
speaks  out  of  the  fulness  of  truth,  and  declares  that  He 
is  "  The  Christ,  The  Son  of  the  Blessed."  S.  Mar.  XIV. 
61-62.  Through  all  His  ministrj'^.  He  adhered  to  this 
claim.  He  admitted  it,  without  rebuke  from  his  ene- 
mies. S.  Matt.  IV.  3  :  S.  Lu.  IV.  41.  He  gave  it,  as  com- 
fort and  assui-ance,  to  His  friends.  S.  Jn.  HI.  16-17. 
He  entered  into  particulars,  referring  to  Himself  as 
God's  "  only  begotten  Son."  Ih.  His  forerunner  and 
messenger,  whose  office  and  preaching  He  distinctly  sanc- 
tioned, attested  Him  personally ;  while  the  beloved  dis- 
ciple, either  quoting  or  supplementing  the  Baptist's  tes- 
timony, calls  Him,  "  The  only  begotten  Son,  which  is 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Father."  I.  18.  In  a  great  num- 
ber of  instances,  and  with  great  variety  of  context,  the 
same  claim  or  rather  high  assumption  is  made  or  im- 
plied ;  and  this  with  no  obtrusion  of  self  assertion,  but 
evidently  for  others'  sake  with  reference  to  the  good  to 
mankind  lying  in  and  on  the  fact,  or  to  the  comfort  of 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      153 

those  who  were  in  want  of  it,  or  to  the  stern  or  sorrow- 
ful condemnation  of  those  who  "opposed  themselves." 
The  dignity  of  the  divine  relationship  was  shrouded  in 
indescribable  human  sympathy,  and  whole  self-sacrifice. 
He  never  abated  aught  of  claim  to  His  lofty  rank.  He 
never  compromised  with  wrong,  nor  quailed  before 
power.  Yet,  so  veiled  was  His  glory,  men  were  drawn 
towards  Him,  as  towards  a  companion.  In  every 
particular  manifestation — whether  as  friend,  teacher, 
protector,  stern  prophet  or  merciful  guide — He  was  at 
one  with  God,  while  longing  for  unity  among  men.  The 
Light  of  Heaven  beamed  from  His  person  on  at  least 
one  memorable  occasion,  and  the  word  with  power  fell 
constantly  from  His  lips ;  yet  His  disciples  were  on  easy, 
familiar  terms  with  Him — one  even  resting  upon  His 
bosom —  ;  while  all  men  had  access  to  Him.  His  enemies 
recognized  His  manliness.  Inquirers  were  answered  by 
Him,  sometimes  pitifully,  always  tenderly,  and  ever' 
with  remarkable  adaptation  of  truth  to  themselves. 

A  simpler,  stronger,  more  beautifully  complete  and 
more  exquisitely  harmonious  character  than  that  of 
Jesus,  has  never  been  described.  It  was  impossible  to 
invent  it,  because  even  human  imagination  cannot  create 
what  to  every  seeing  or  perceiving  faculty  shows  every 
human  perfection  ;  and  yet  is  evidently  not  exhausted. 
An  inventor  must  exceed  his  invention.  Because  Jesus 
exceeds  all  understanding,  while  filling  all  capabilities. 
He  must  have  existed  ;  and  existed  as  He  is  set  forth 
historically,  and  as  He  is  made  known  to  the  human 
spirit  of  understanding. 

Modem  thought  is  not  unfamihar  with  that  objection 
to  Jesus,  which — whether  born  of  corruption  and  evil 
will,  or  honestly  proceeding  from  perplexity — refuses 
Him  and  His  claims,  upon  the  ground  that  as  perfection 


154      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

exceeds  Imman  comprehensioiij  therefore  it  is  impossible 
to  believe  in  one  its  possessor.  The  answer  has  been  al- 
ready made  to  this  same  argument,  when  presented  in  an- 
other form  ;  and  it  is  the  answer  to  it  in  all  forms.  Com- 
prehension is  not  only  unnecessary  to  behef  in  Christ, 
but  impossible.  We  know  demonstrably,  only  what  we 
comprehend  :  it  lies  within  us,  and  we  encompass  it. 
Hence  a  comprehended  Christ — Saviour — is  impossible, 
because  He  would  be  less  than  ourselves.  It  is  surely  no 
objection,  that  Jesus  exceeds  understanding.  His  meet- 
ing understanding  at  its  first  outgoings,  and  accompany- 
ing it  wherever  it  really  walks  or  soars,  and  filling  it 
always,  is  an  assurance  of  hope,  rather  than  source  of 
confusion.  We  have  other  faculties  than  that  of  under- 
standing :  many  others,  e.g.  the  affections,  which  are 
superior  both  in  strength  and  beauty  to  the  understand- 
ing. All  these  work  together  into  a  sort  of  alliance  or 
perhaps  compound,  which  may  perhaps  be  named  reason. 
With  this  alliance,  or  compound,  the  whole  individual  man 
thinks,  and  feels,  and  acts.  This  whole  believes.  It  does 
not  refuse  to  any  part  its  full  scope.  It  says  to  the  under- 
standing, '  Be  satisfied  with  fulness,  and  grow  in  capacity 
and  be  full  again.'  It  says  to  the  affections,  '  Go  forth  to 
give  all,  and  open  to  be  filled  and  so  grow  up  towards 
The  Infinite — the  all  of  beneficence  and  of  yearning.'  It 
says  to  the  will,  '  Be  free,  nobly,  in  willing  submission  to 
Almighty  goodness,  and  be  content  to  grow  great  for- 
ever through  expanding  conformity  to  The  Supreme'. 

In  these  capacities  and  their  conjunction  lie  the  prac- 
ticability of  belief  in  Jesus.  So  far  therefore  from  being 
impossible,  it  is  essential  to  our  being  and  growth.  We 
must  believe,  in  order  that  we  may  rely  upon  One,  Who 
can  touch  us  at  aU  points,  fill  us  everywhere,  and  expand 
us  ever  towards  the  illimitable. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      155 

Here  again  we  find  the  Creed  free  from  any  just  charge 
of  violent  assumption  over  man's  rightful  freedom,  and 
dignity.  This  article — though  presenting  a  fact  dis- 
tinctly drawn  from  beyond  the  scope  of  human  discovery, 
and  in  itself  too  great  for  human  comprehension — is  yet 
so  simply  set  forth,  that  every  grade  of  understanding  is 
capable  of  apprehending  it ;  while  all  that  is  essentially 
in  and  of  man  cognizes  it  with  satisfaction.  Mind  and 
heart  and  will  take  hold  of  the  Son  of  Gt)D,  and,  being 
filled  by  Him,  ever  grow  in  capacity,  power  and  scope. 

Surely  "dogmatism"  cannot  be  urged,  offensively, 
against  the  presentation  of  the  fact  that  the  Anointed 
Saviouk  of  mankind  was  in  origin  The  Only  Begotten 
Son  of  The  Father.  Man  is  honored  and  uplifted  in  his 
own  view,  and  in  that  of  all  creation,  by  having  the  very 
Son  of  God  for  his  merciful  deliverer.  Modem  thought 
cannot  object  yet  to  The  Creed,  for  surely  thus  far  it  ex- 
hibits God,  in  relations  to  man  most  ennobling  to  the 
creature. 

Pride  indeed  may,  in  its  assumed  self-sufficiency,  re- 
ject the  whole  idea  of  a  Saviour.  For  the  proud,  the 
Creed  is  without  word  of  instruction.  But  for  honest 
and  earnest  modern  thinkers,  who  feel  the  force  on 
modern  progress  of  the  advancing  earthquake  wave  of 
respect  for  man  as  man,  and  who  are  compelled  to  view 
truth  through  humanity  as  it  is,  the  Creed  is  not  an 
echo  merely  out  of  the  buried  past,  but  a  li\ing  utter- 
ance. It  is  a  formula  indeed,  but  one  that  will  not 
cramp  true  humanity,  not  fetter  any  really  human  ca- 
pacity, not  crush  any  right  human  longing.  It  is  the  in- 
strument of  freedom  and  enlargement.  The  only  Be- 
gotten, Whom  it  declares,  is,  as  He  ever  has  been,  the 
Apostle  of  liberty.  "If  the  Son  therefore  make  you 
free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed."      S.  Jn.  VHI.  36. 


156      THE  CEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 


"  Begotten  of  j^is  JFatijn*  before  all  lDorlb0,  (Bob  of 
(&6b,  Ciglit  of  Cigl)t,  Ders  ®oir  of  l)er2  ®oir." 

With  the  same  natural  capacitj^  through  which  we 
perceive  the  idea  of  God,  we  may  also  perceive  any 
clearly  declared  fact  touching  the  mode  of  His  being. 
We  may  apprehend  it,  even  though  we  may  not  compre- 
hend it.  It  may  be  accepted  as  a  whole  fact,  consistent 
with  all  analogies,  and  harmonious  with  all  principles, 
although  we  may  not  be  able  to  follow  out  all  the  analo- 
gies, nor  see  its  harmony  with  all  principles.  It  is 
enough  for  us,  when  it  stands  without  positive  contra- 
diction to  other  known  facts.  The  appearance  of  contra- 
diction is  not  an  insuperable  objection.  That  appearance 
may  be  only  a  result  of  our  own  finite  incapacity.  The 
fact  may  be  so  vast,  as  to  reach  the  domain  of  mystery. 
Within  that,  as  yet  impenetrable  sphere,  the  links  which 
bind  it  to  the  great  consistency  of  truth  may  lie. 
Therefore  all  we  have  a  right  to  ask,  respecting  a  fact 
of  God,  is  that  it  be  within  the  grasp  of  our  capacity 
for  apprehension,  and  that  it  do  not  in  terms  positively 
contradict  any  other  fact  or  necessary  inference.  A  clear 
perception,  and  honest  allowance  of  this  inevitable  con- 
dition of  the  finite,  is  an  absolute  preliminaiy  to  all 
human  understanding.  It  saves  from  the  unwisdom,  and 
protects  from  the  danger  of  boasting  ourselves  "  of 
things  without  our  measure". 

The  idea  of  The  Divine  Fatherhood  is  acceptable  to 
human  nature.     When  viewed  from  the  moral  stand- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      157 

point,  it  readily  finds  acceptance  in  modem  thought. 
Love  responds  to  it  joyfully.  The  mind  willingly  follows 
the  heart,  in  conceiving  the  idea  of  One  Supreme  Lord 
of  the  universe,  Who  yearns  affectionately  over  His  crea- 
tures, and  dehghts  to  manifest  Himself  not  only  as  a 
ruler  in  righteousness,  but  as  a  tender,  patient  and  sym- 
pathetic dispenser  of  mercy  also. 

A  deeper  fact  however  is  presented  in  the  word  "  be- 
gotten." The  heart  at  first  does  not  feel  its  own  inter- 
est in  it.  The  mind  is  the  faculty  that  first  takes  hold 
of  it.  It  seems,  when  first  viewed,  to  be  a  strange,  re- 
mote and  perplexing  proposition.  It  touches  the  very 
Divine  essence.  It  is  a  foundation  fact,  inhering  in  the 
very  substance  itself  of  The  Godhead. 

The  Creed  twice  uses  the  term.  In  the  clause  now 
under  consideration,  the  point  chiefly  in  view  is  the  eter- 
nity of  the  begetting  of  the  ever  begotten.  "  Before  all 
worlds  "  meant,  when  the  sentence  was  devised,  and  has 
ever  since  been  understood,  as  the  equivalent  of,  "  eter- 
nally." Literally  it  is  equivalent  to  "  before  all  time,"' 
for  time  is  not  an  entity  but  relatively  a  succession,  and, 
in  the  concrete,  the  sum  of  all  successions.  Relative 
successions  came  in  with  creation,  and  continue  with  its 
progress.  Evolution,  development  and  growth  start 
from  creation,  and  are  themselves  only  its  progressive 
steps.  Time  belongs  to  them  all,  and  exists  in  and 
through  their  existence  and  operation.  Before  the  fii-st 
world,  or  germ  of  a  world — which  is  the  same  thing,  be- 
cause the  germ  contains  potentially  aU  that  proceeds 
fi'om  it — there  was  no  time.  Hence  The  Only  Begotten 
was  and  is  such  eternally.  In  begetting  Him,  God  did 
not,  as  He  could  not,  subject  Himself  to  time  and  its 
successions.  There  was  no  period,  in  which  the  beget- 
ting began.     Our  experience  notes  two  distinct  acts  in 


158      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

begetting  and  begotten :  one  precedes  the  other  in  time, 
and  acts  toward  the  other  as  a  preceding  cause.  With 
the  eternal  God,  no  such  succession  is  possible.  The 
fact  therefore  is,  that  The  Father,  begetting  eternally, 
has  ever  before  Him  His  own  eternally  begotten  Sou. 
This  fact  does  not  correspond  to  the  analogies  of  human 
experience.  We  know  nothing  else  like  it.  But  human 
experience  deals  ever  with  temporalities.  Time  with  its 
"  succession,  duration  or  simultaneity  "  are  involved  in 
all  temporal  realities.  We,  certainly,  are  capable  of 
eliminating  the  element  of  time,  from  our  mental  con- 
ceptions. Though  we  may  not  see,  we  can  certainly  be- 
lieve in  the  eternal  consistency  of  that,  which  would  be 
inconsistent  within  the  domain  of  time.  Modern  thought 
therefore,  has  no  ground  of  valid  objection,  against  the 
eternity  of  The  Divine  Sonship.  It  is  apprehensible.  It 
is  therefore  possible.  Consequently  it  must  be  accepted, 
by  all  fair  minds,  upon  adequate  evidence. 

Revelation  is  the  sole  source,  whence  evidence  of  the 
fact  mry  be  positively  drawn.  The  mode  of  the  Divine 
existence,  is  indiscoverable  to  finite  capacity.  The  Bible 
— the  one  only  authenticated,  written  Word  of  God — 
contains  clear  declarations  of  the  eternal.  Divine  Sonship. 

S.  John  the  Baptist  was  the  honored  prophet,  through 
whom  this  fact  was  fully  declared.  Other  prophets  be- 
fore him,  had  dimly  seen  and  proclaimed  it.  He  first, 
however,  sets  forth  the  reality  in  wonderful,  glorious 
completeness.  "The  Only  Begotten  Son,  Which  is  in 
the  bosom  of  The  Father  ".  S.  Jn.  I.  18.  The  context 
applies  these  words  to  Jesus,  and  to  Him  only.  The 
Baptist  was  attesting  the  presence  of  the  personal  mes- 
senger of  God,  about  to  enter  upon  His  mission  of  man- 
ifesting or  declaring  The  Father.  "I  saw  and  bear 
record  that  this  is  the  Son  of  God  ".     I.  34. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      159 

S.  Jolin  Tlie  Evangelist  records  his  testimony  ;  "  and 
■we  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten 
of  The  Father".  I.  14 

Subsequently  to  the  witness  of  the  Baptist,  and  to  a 
"  ruler  of  the  Jews  "  known  to  be  well  informed  of  current 
events,  and  therefore  doubtless  familiar  with  the  public 
fact  of  that  witness,  Jesus  called  Himself  "  God's  only 
begotten  Son",  declared  His  mission  of  salvation,  and 
asserted  His  own  supermundane  existence.  S.  Jn.  HL 
16-17.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  assert  the  necessity  of 
belief  in  Himself  ;  and  to  proclaim  the  danger  of  unbe- 
lief, not  because  of  judicial  consequences,  but  because 
such  unbelief,  by  itself  alone,  shut  off  the  saving  efficacy 
of  the  one  only  name  or  power  of  salvation.  *'  He  that 
beheveth  on  Him  is  not  condemned  :  but  he  that  be- 
lieveth  not  is  condemned  already,  because  he  hath  not 
believed  in  the  name  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God  '*. 

m.  18. 

All  these,  and  like  passages,  reveal  the  essential  unity 
of  Jesus  with  God.  The  fact  set  forth  is  primary,  and 
fundamental.  It  must  be  received  fairly  and  honestly, 
according  to  its  simple  and  full  signification.  Words 
cannot  be  framed  to  express  more  clearly  the  eternal 
sonship  of  Jesus.  "  In  the  bosom  of  the  Father  " ! 
"WTiat  can  be  nearer  God  ?  "  Sent  into  the  world "  ! 
Whence  ?  From  beyond  the  region  of  time,  even  from 
the  bosom  of  the  Eternal  Father,  with  Whom  He  not 
merely  was,  but  "  is  ". 

The  eternal  sonship  being  established,  the  essential  son- 
ship  comes  naturally  next  into  view.  The  Creed  how- 
ever interjects,  three  glowing  and  significantly  descrip- 
tive forms  of  Christ's  Divinity.  They  flow  necessarily 
from  the  truth,  so  far  declared. 

"  God  "  !   necessarily,    because   eternally   begotten   of 


160  THE   CEEED    AND   MODEEN   TIIOTJGIIT. 

God!  Not,  like  The  Father,  tlie  original  source  and 
self-existent  centre  of  the  Godhead  ;  but  though  ever 
living,  and  "  having  life  in  Himself  ",  yet  ever  living  and 
having  this  Hfe  through  The  Fathee  :  "  God  of  God  " ! 

"  God  is  light  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all ". 
1  S.  Jn.  I.  6.  This  message  of  Jesus  is  the  fact  of  facts, 
about  God  ;  on  which  all  burdened  souls  rest,  around 
which  perplexed  minds  gather,  to  which  resolute  faith 
clings,  and  out  through  which  comes  the  cable  that  is 
bound  to  the  anchor  of  hope  within  the  vail.  "  God  is 
light "  ;  or  there  is  no  such  thing  as  light  for  man.  *'  In 
Him  is  no  darkness " ;  or  some  poor  human  creature 
may,  by  everlasting  necessity,  be  compelled  forever  to 
grope  in  the  cold  horror  of  the  ever  impenetrable  Divine 
shadow.  Jesus  also  is  "  the  light  of  men  "  ;  even  "  the 
true  Light  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world  ".  S.  Jn.  I.  4,  9.  Not  however,  by  possibility, 
can  His  light  be  other  than  the  light  of  God.  Eternally 
in  the  bosom  of  The  Father,  He  partakes  with  The 
Father  of  the  Divine  light.  In  The  Father  it  is  original 
light.  In  the  Son,  this  original  light,  from  the  one  Divine 
source,  is  not  separated  from  The  Father  to  reach  the 
Son,  that  it  may  thence  shine  out  through  Him  ;  but,  in 
one  effulgence  the  light  of  God  shines  forth  and  is  mani- 
fested, through,  by  and  in  Him,  Who  is  "Light  op 
Light  ". 

"Very  God"  !  Superlatively,  the  Supreme  !  The  ut- 
most bound,  of  possible  expression  through  language,  is 
not  enough  to  declare  the  completeness  of  the  Divinity 
of  Jesus.  Yet  He  is  not  the  Father  :  nor  does  He  in- 
vade the  prerogatives  of  the  great  eternal,  unchangeable, 
Source  Divine.     He  is  "  Very  God  of  Very  God  ". 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      161 


"  JJrgottcn,  not  iHabe,  being  of  ®ne  Subetance  mil) 

The  historic  origin  of  this  clause,  and  the  theological 
controversy  that  occasioned  it,  are  well  known.  With 
Arianism  and  its  conflicts,  compromises,  victories  and 
final  utter  overthrow.  Modern  Thought  has  no  direct 
connection.  It  is  now  chiefly  interesting  as  a  chapter  in 
historic  theology. 

The  important  fact,  however,  set  forth  in  this  clause, 
is  as  much  a  living  truth  as  ever.  It  is  vocal  now  as 
then.  Its  word  is  not  only  true,  now  as  then,  but  it  is 
practically  adapted  to  the  present  needs  of  the  souls  of 
this  age  and  land  ;  while  to  the  thought  of  modern  times 
it  convej^s  a  lesson  of  imperative  meaning,  as  weU  as  of 
profound  significance,  and  imiversal  personal  value. 

The  Saviour,  being  needed  and  acknowledged.  His 
Deity  becomes  a  necessity.  The  practical  object  of  truth 
is  to  bring  man  close  to  God.  It  may  be  well  here  again 
to  recall  that  sense  of  dignity — inherent  in  humanity,  and 
discoverable  by  any  one  who  deeply  and  boldly  searches 
himself — by  which  we  know  and  feel,  that  we  may, 
should  and  ever  must,  for  peace'  sake,  commune  with  God 
directly,  person  with  person.  It  is  useless  to  attempt  to 
repress  this  common  sense,  and  consciousness  of  neces- 
sity. Undevout  men  exhibit  it,  in  trifling  words  and 
acts  towards  God,  or  even  in  blasphemy.  Devout 
men  however  do  not,  or  at  least  need  not,  utterly  repress 
reverent  familiarity  with  God.     Human  nature  demands, 


1G2      THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

that  the  servile  element  shall  not  mingle  with  the  highest 
advancement  of  man.  Before  God,  man  must  be  free. 
With  God  he  must  dwell,  and  that  closely  in  near  com- 
munion ;  or  he  can  never  have  the  depths  of  his  con- 
scious capacity  filled,  nor  the  height  of  his  rightful 
dignity  topped,  and  all  his  longings  satisfied. 

A  saviour,  himself  less  than  God,  could  not  be  the 
Saviour  man's  needs  require.  It  would  matter  nothing 
how  much  he  might  excel  all  other  creatures.  He  might 
be  so  exalted,  that  every  other  heavenly  creature  woiild 
stand  immeasurably  beneath  him.  Still,  when  he  had 
lifted  man  up  to  his  own  elevation,  and  made  him  par- 
taker of  his  own  utmost  glory,  man  would  chafe  under 
the  sense  of  his  own  godlikeness ;  he  would  still  per- 
ceive the  incapacity  of  any  creature  to  fill  the  deep  needs 
of  his  common  human  consciousness.  Such  a  saviour, 
would  yet  be  infinitely  remote  from  the  Supreme  God. 
The  work  of  salvation — which,  be  it  ever  kept  in  mind, 
is  essentially  personal  union  and  communion  with  God 
— would  have  to  be  done  all  over  again.  Actually  no 
progress  would  have  been  made  ;  because,  altho'  there 
may  be  grades  above  present  human  development,  these 
gi-ades  are  not  ladders  or  successive  planes  reaching 
towards  the  Infinite  :  the  last  of  them  is  as  remote  as 
the  first. 

Humanity,  being  essentially  the  same  in  all  ages, 
modern  thought  should  perceive  a  living,  practical  fact 
in  the  Saviour's  coessentiality  with  the  Father.  The  men 
of  this  age  are  spoken  to  by  The  Creed,  in  this  clause, 
with  a  voice  significant,  living  and  clear  as  ever.  Indeed 
in  all  ages  and  lands  men  true  to  the  common  human 
consciousness,  not  irreverent  but  devoutly  bold,  not  pre- 
sumptuous but  humbly  resolute,  not  self-confident  but 
firm  in  self-convictions,  do  and  wiU  requtre  a  Saviour  ; 


THE    CKEED    AND   MODERN    THOUGHT.  1G3 

"V\Tio,  in  His  own  right,  shall  stand  coequal  with  God,  in 
order  that  He  may  lift  up  godlike  man,  and  put  him  be- 
fore and  with  God,  Whom  he  is,  and  feels  himself  to  be, 
like. 

Man  not  only  might,  but  if  true  to  himself  would  re- 
ject a  saviour  not  Divine.  Hence  The  Creed  in  this,  as 
in  all  its  parts,  is  friendly  and  faithful  to  humanity.  So 
far  from  laying  a  burden  on  the  soul,  or  attempting  to 
clamp  an  arbitrary  dogma,  like  a  chain,  round  the  mind  ; 
it  exhibits  a  jealous  regard  for  the  true  dignity  of  hu- 
man nature.  It  presents  a  fact,  of  the  highest  moment 
and  most  glorious  promise,  to  all  noble  minded  men  of 
all  ages.  It  calls  them,  as  with  God's  voice  ever  audi- 
ble, not  to  deny  their  own  consciousness,  but  to  adhere 
to  it  bravely  ;  and  to  look  out  from  it  fearlessly,  even  up 
to  the  throne  of  The  Highest ;  and  to  be  satisfied  only 
with  The  Saviour,  Who  is  one  with  God. 

This  concrete  reality  of  person,  obviously,  implies  a 
substantial  basis.  As  it  is  necessary  for  man  that  his 
SA\^ouR  be  God  ;  so,  on  the  other  side,  the  Divine  Unity 
must  embrace  all  its  own  persons  within  its  own  sub- 
stance. Human  thought  is  able  to  perceive,  and  there- 
fore modem  thought  may  fairly  be  required  to  accept, 
the  idea  of  a  substantial  unity  comprising  several  and 
distinct  personalities.  The  fact  is  therefore  not  impossi- 
ble.    It  simply  demands  adequate  proof. 

When  substantial  unity  in  the  Godhead  is  affirmed,  in 
connection  mth  tripersonaUty,  the  question  will  come 
up,  'What  is  substance'?  Nor  may  it  be  passed  by 
and  neglected,  in  this  metaphysical  age. 

In  the  first  place  substance  is  not  a  separate  entity. 
It  exists  in,  not  apart  from,  its  manifestations.  There  is 
not  a,  one  Divine  substance,  whence  the  Father  comes 
forth.  Who  begets  the  Son,  and  from  Whom  the  Sphut 


164      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

proceedetli ;  but  all  are  of  it,  and  in  it,  and  it  in  them 
eternally. 

Again  the  Divine  Substance  is  unlike  matter.  It  has 
neither  dimensions  nor  weight.  It  cannot  be  divided 
into  separate  portions.  Its  unity  ever  remains  with  it. 
It  is  all  in  one,  and  one  in  all.  God  is  The  Father,  The 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  "  not  three  gods,  but  One 
God  "  ;  "  neither  confounding  the  Persons  nor  dividing 
the  Substance  ". 

This,  be  it  observed,  is  not  revelation.  It  is  a  philo- 
sophic, i.e.  a  humanly  invented,  expression  of  a  mystery. 
It  is  not  an  explanation  of  mystery  ;  for  a  mystery  ex- 
plained is  a  mystery  no  longer.  It  is  simply  impossible 
for  the  human  mind  to  apprehend  any  existence,  unless 
it  be  conceived  as  resting  back  upon  substance.  The 
substance  of  anything  is  unsearchable.  What  for  ex- 
ample is  the  substance  of  iron.  It  is  not  hardness,  nor 
heaviness,  nor  adhesion  ;  and  yet  all  iron  is  hard,  heavy 
and  cohesive  :  by  these  and  other  invariable  attributes 
we  know  iron,  distinguish  it  from  other  things,  and 
speak  confidently  though  inexplicably  of  its  substance. 
So  of  every  form  or  idea  of  existence  It  is  never  in  its 
manifestations  alone,  nor  in  its  substance  alone.  Both 
coexist,  the  former  being  open,  more  or  less,  to  sensible 
or  ideal  observation  ;  and  the  latter  necessarily  assumed, 
as  the  real  though  indescribable  basis  and  ground. 

Hence  we  conceptually  locate  the  Divine  Unity  in  The 
Divine  Substance  ;  not  that  we  know  that  substance, 
apart  from  its  Manifest  Triunity,  but  because  the  Unity 
being  a  fact,  and  the  tripersonality  both  a  fact  of  revela- 
tion and  a  practical  reality  to  all  men,  who  would  draw 
nigh  unto  God,  we  find  the  necessity  here,  as  in  every 
other  sense  or  idea  of  reality,  to  conceive  of  substance. 

The  substance  of  the  Deity,  therefore,  as  nearly  as  Ian- 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      1G5 

gufige  can  express  it,  may  be  called  tliat  indivisible 
unity,  wherein  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  is,  was,  and 
ever  will  be,  manifest  in  the  distinct  but  inseparable 
persons  of  The  Father,  The  Son,  and  The  Holy  Ghost. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  face  the  starthng,  delicate  mys- 
tery of  the  term  "  begotten  ".  It  is  sanctioned  amply  by 
our  Saviour's  own  use.  It  has  had  devout  repetition 
continuously  from  holy  lips,  as  in  the  present  so 
throughout  the  past.  It  is  a  term  full  of  associations 
from  human  experience,  and  touching  upon  analogies 
through  aU  created,  animate  and  perhaps  even  inani- 
mate evolution  and  development.  The  process  of  beget- 
ting varies.  The  simplest  chemical  affinities  or  perhaps 
cohesion,  may  be  taken  as  its  germ.  If  any  disciple  of 
evolution  wishes  to  trace  this  power  or  tendency,  up 
from  the  lowest  known  natural  operation  of  energy  meet- 
ing response  and  effecting  production  through  union  ; 
and  thence  follow  it  until  it  culminates  in  the  productive 
love  of  the  most  highly  organized  creatures  ;  he  is  quite 
free  to  do  so,  without  detriment  to,  or  difficulty  with 
The  Creed.  All  beams  of  truth  shine  from  one  central 
light.  The  Creed  is  concerned  directly  with  the  person 
of  God,  and  man's  relations  to  Him.  It  does  not  go  out, 
to  teach  all  knowledge  in  all  forms.  It  must  however  be 
consistent  with  truth  wherever  discovered.  It  is  suffi- 
cient therefore  now,  to  take  the  term  "  begotten  "  in  its 
simplicity  and  completeness  of  meaning.  The  operation 
of  begetting,  and  realities  of  the  begotten  pervade  all 
nature.  It  is  obviously  not  impossible  that  God,  having 
revealed  Himself  as  Father,  should  also  reveal  Himself 
as  the  ever  begetting  Father  of  the  Only  Begotten  Son. 
Now  begetting,  in  all  nature,  is  never  the  making  of  an- 
other creature  out  of  other  substance  ;  but  it  is  the 
evolving  of  a  distinct  object,  individual  or  person,  out  of 


166      THE  CKEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

one's  own  very  self  and  substance.  In  tlie  highest 
known  form  on  earth,  begetting  and  begotten  come 
through  substantial  union  of  two  persons.  The  mascu- 
line and  feminine  man,  however,  are  only  the  most  com- 
plex organizations  among  universal,  natural  correspon- 
dencies. As  above  suggested,  it  is  possible  to  begin 
with  the  lowest  form  of  attraction  and  cohesion  and  fol- 
low on,  through  inanimate  and  then  animate  creation  up 
to  man,  the  regularly  ascending  development — or  "  evo- 
lution"— of  energy  and  response,  of  the  masculine  and 
the  feminine  powers,  ever  active,  ever  commingling,  ever 
productive. 

Without  pursuing  this  fact  further,  in  the  Divine  di- 
rection, than  bold  yet  reverent  truthfulness  demands  ; 
we  may  hold  it  distinctly  with  pure  minds,  as  a  conceiv- 
able proposition,  that  what  all  nature  reflects,  as  in  a 
mirror,  may  be  a  great  reality  in  the  mode  of  Goo's  own 
being. 

The  separation  of  persons  in  humanity,  let  it  be  re- 
membered, was  not  created  but  made  after  creation. 
Man  was  created.  Afterwards  woman  was  taken  out  of 
man.  The  masculine  and  the  feminine  principles  were  not 
primarily,  and  are  not  therefore  necessarily  divided  into 
distinct  persons.  This  line  of  distinction  was  drawn 
between  human  persons,  we  are  told,  for  specific  and 
temporary  purposes.  Woman  was  taken  out  of  man, 
and  given  to  him  as  companion-  and  helper  :  while  on 
both  lay  the  temporary  duty  of  replenishing  the  earth. 
Everything  in  revelation,  about  man,  accords  with  human 
experience  ;  while  both  testify  to  the  growth  and  decay 
— i.e.  essential  temporality — of  the  division  of  persons 
into  masculine  and  feminine.  The  two  principles  that 
existed  once  in  the  single  Adam,  are  certainly  not  even 
now  divided  characteristically  always  between  the  human 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      167 

sexes.  Some  men  are  most  feminine,  and  some  women 
most  masculine.  When  tlie  temporal  duty  of  replenish- 
ing the  earth  shall  be  over,  then  the  original  type  of 
Adam  may  reappear  again  ;  and,  never  marrying  nor 
giving  in  marriage,  men  may  everlastingly  be  masculine 
and  feminine,  in  various  proportions,  through  every 
person.  As  these  two  principles  are  one  active  and  the 
other  responsive  ;  the  hving  circuit  and  flow  of  love 
manifests  itself  in  their  vigorous  mutuality.  There  is 
nothing  impossible  in  the  begetting  by  God,  Wlio  is  love, 
out  of  His  own  veiy  substance,  an  only  Begotten  Son. 
Time  enters  not  into  God's  actions.  He  cannot  have 
been  once  the  alone  Supreme,  and  after  that  FxVther  : 
for  the  very  idea  of  God  includes  unchangeableness.  He 
therefore  ever  begetteth,  The  Ever  only  Begotten. 

Human  thought  is  again  seen  capable  of  receiving  an 
article  in  the  Creed.  Modern  Thought  therefore  can 
only  demand  sufficient  proof,  that  God  The  Father,  of 
His  own  substance,  begetteth  ever  the  Ever  Only  Begot- 
ten Son. 

Proof  of  this  fact,  is  only  obtainable  from  revelation. 
One  source  alone  of  it  is  j^ossible.  It  can  only  have  been 
made  known  originally  by  Him,  Who  knew  and  knows 
it  personally.  God  Himself  must  declare  it.  Man  could 
never  discover  it.  God  chose  His  own  method  and 
means  of  declaration.  The  Creed  rests,  wholly,  and  in 
all  its  parts,  on  God  manifest.  "The  Only  Begotten 
Son  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  The  Father,  He  hath  de- 
clared Him*'.  S.  Jn.  I.  18.  "Neither  knoweth  any 
man  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whom  the  Son 
wiU  reveal  Him".  S.  Matt.  XI.  27.  "For  the  life  was 
manifested,  and  we  have  seen  it,  and  bear  witness  and 
shew  unto  you  that  Eternal  Life,  which  was  with  The 
Fatiler  and  was  manifested  unto  us".      1  S.  Jn.  I.  2. 


ljG8  THE   CKEED    AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

"  And  without  controversy  great  is  the  mystery  of  god- 
liness, God  (or  Who)  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified 
in  the  Spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles, 
believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  into  glory ".  1 
Tim.  m.  16. 

The  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  one  ground  of  behef, 
for  those  facts  about  God  that  lie  necessarily  outside  the 
domain  of  human  discovery.  To  say  that  such  facts  are 
beyond  our  capacity  of  reception,  is  to  confuse  thought. 
It  denies,  what  the  very  form  of  the  denial  itself  affirms. 
Viewing  man  as  an  independent  discoverer,  we  must 
indeed  acknowledge  God  to  be  "The  Great  Unknown  "  ; 
but,  the  very  form  of  expression  itself  shows  a  distinct 
conception,  in  the  mind  of  every  one  who  uses  it.  Now, 
while  acknowledging  and  indeed  vehemently  asserting 
the  natural  incapacity  of  man  to  find  out  God,  we  do  not 
therefore  allow  that  "  The  Great  Unknown "  cannot  re- 
veal Himself  to  the  finite  capacity  of  His  own  creature, 
and  fill  that  creature  with  such  knowledge  as  he  is  made 
capable  of  receiving,  and  such  grace  as  he  is  enabled 
to  use.  Whatever  is  revealed  about  God,  so  that  hu- 
man thought  may  apprehend  it,  must  in  all  fairness  be 
always  accepted  by  men,  upon  just  and  sufficient  testi- 
mony. 

The  unimpeachable  man  Jesus — unimpeachable  both 
in  wisdom  and  truth — testifies  to  the  eternity  of  the  Only 
Begotten  Son.  He  refers  to  Himself,  as  "  God  .... 
his  only  Begotten  Son  ".  S.  Jn.  HI.  16.  He  says  "  I  and 
my  Father  are  (cv)  one  substance ".  X.  30.  In  prayer 
He  solemnly  claims  eternal  union  with  God.  "And  now 
O  Father,  glorify  Thou  Me  with  Thine  own  Self  with  the 
glory  which  I  had  with  Thee  before  the  world  was". 
XVH.  5. 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.      160 

These  few  passages  are  selected,  not  as  all  the  evi- 
dence, but  as  only  specimens  of  the  evidence  with  which 
the  New  Testament — "the  word  of  God" — teems. 
These  and  all  other  texts  and  contexts  are  amply  dis- 
cussed and  defended,  in  very  accessible  works  on  Chris- 
tian exegesis.  They,  who  would  study  them  honestly, 
have  helps  enough ;  while  they  who  would  controvert 
the  interpretation  of  them,  here  assumed,  may  find 
answers  enough  to  all  objections.  This  essay  is  not  exe- 
getical.  It  assumes  the  common  interpretation  which  is 
sanctioned  by  ages,  and  only  aims  or  attempts  to  show 
that  Modern  Thought,  not  only  need  not  reject  it  because 
of  its  difficulties,  but  in  fact  must  have  it  for  self-preser- 
vation :  since  it  is  true,  now  as  ever,  as  practical  fact 
reaching  to  every  person,  that  self-insufficiency  demands 
a  Saviour,  humanity  a  human  Saviour,  personality  a  per- 
sonal Saviour,  godlikeness  a  Saviour  who  is  God,  while 
one  name  only  fulfils  all  these  conditions  ; — "  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth  " — "for  there  is  none  other  name 
under  heaven,  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be 
saved".     Acts  IV.  10,  12. 

Thus  the  Creed  sets  forth  God  The  Son,  as  partaker 
not  merely  of  the  Divine  likeness,  but  of  the  very  sub- 
stance of  His  Father.  This  great  fact,  as  has  been  amply 
shown,  being  within  our  natural  human  powers  of  ap- 
prehension, is  therefore  ^rs^  possible,  then  susceptible  of 
proof,  and  Jiiialhj  proved  upon  the  testimony  of  an  amply 
authorized  and  accredited  witness.  The  crucial  test  of 
the  truth  of  Jesus,  with  His  triumphant  success  under 
and  through  it,  will  appear  later,  in  the  article  upon  the 
"Resurrection."  The  links  of  confirmatory  witness  to 
His  truth,  with  the  evidence  which  brings  it  down  to 
this  age,  and  makes  the  word  of  God  a  living  voice 
8 


170      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

to  this  generation,  will  also  come  up  in  place  under  the 
article  upon  "The  One  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic 
Church  ".  Without  advancing  too  fast,  it  is  enough  thus 
f  ir  to  feel,  without  formally  stating  it,  the  strength  of 
proof  which  flows  from  the  Creed,  as  a  single  unity  and 
wlioleness  of  revealed  truth. 

At  this  point  we  contemplate  The  Divine  Son,  as  Jesus 
The  Saviour,  and  Christ  God's  anointed.  We  regard 
His  Divinity,  His  Office,  and  the  authority  of  His  Mis- 
sion. As  3'et  He  stands  apart,  exalted  before  our  won- 
dering vision.  As  a  fact.  He  thus  appears  both  amazing 
and  attractive.  He  manifests  God,  in  a  mode  of  being 
that  suggests  a  remarkable  and  winning  likeness  to  man. 
Henceforth  The  Godhead  is  freed  from  that  cold,  remote, 
rspellent  abstract  idea  of  mere  purity  and  power,  which 
man  can  never  contemplate  without  fear  or  dread,  nor  dweE 
upon  with  satisfaction  ;  and,  to  escape  which,  he  again 
and  again  has  either  denied  God's  existence  altogether, 
or  else  denied  a  human  capacity  for  knowing  God. 

The  parental  mode  of  primary  Divine  existence,  when 
perceived  and  accepted  as  fact,  at  once  begins,  through 
human  hearts,  to  work  out  hght,  and  warmth  and  joy, 
ill  body  and  mind  and  soul.  *'  This  God  is  our  God  ". 
We  are  not  unlike  him.  There  is  a  community  of 
thought,  and  emotion  between  us.  Great,  and  glorious 
tho'  He  be,  and  as  such  demanding  our  solemn  reverence. 
He  is  also  surely  condescending,  considerate  and  tender. 
Though  sin  cannot  be  viewed  by  Him,  with  allowance  ; 
tho'  presumption  must  be  rebuked  by  His  royal,  heav- 
enly, dignity  ;  and  tho'  every  lightness  of  thought  or 
deed  towards  Him  must  be  abashed  by  His  pure  and 
serene  perfectness :  yet  '*  The  God  and  Fatheh  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  "  stands  over  us  chiefly  as  the  One 
Being,  Whose  essence  is  love. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOrGIIT.      171 

In  all  the  known  range  of  fact,  as  well  as  througliout 
the  golden  cloud-creations  of  fancy,  there  is  nothing  else 
existing  or  conceivable,  to  be  compared  to  The  Father, 
as  revealed  by  and  manifested  in  The  Son.  As  a  mere 
form  of  knowledge,  it  taxes  all  human  powers  of  thought 
and  emotion  ;  and  while  developing  them,  fills  them  full 
always,  yet  ever  continues  to  pour  forth  in  floods  of  new 
light  and  joy.  God  in  Christ  ceases  to  be  intangible  and 
cold,  like  a  cloud  far  off;  and  becomes  a  perceptibly  near 
Being,  to  Whom  man  may  go  for  communion,  and  for 
something  like  reciprocation.  He  is  not  merely  a  unity, 
full  of  self  and  self-suflS.cient,  but  He  is  one  in  a  living 
circuit  of  persons.  Of  His  own  nature  He  is  both  active 
and  receptive,  outgoing  and  responsive,  communing  and 
communed  with  :  such  was  He  before  the  world  began, 
such  is  He  in  essence,  and  such  therefore  will  He  ever 
remain,  in  Himself  and  towards  His  creatures. 

Man  cannot  afford  to  be  without  such  a  living,  loving 
God.  Once  manifested,  every  generation  must  claim 
Him,  for  their  own  "  Very  God  ".  Modems  and  ancients, 
all,  as  true  to  the  common  human  consciousness,  have 
equal,  indefeasible  right  to  have  and  to  know  this  God, 
for  their  Ever  Merciful  Father.  The  Creed,  thus  far, 
must  in  all  fairness  be  allowed  to  be  in  real  sympathy  with 
all  that  is  true  and  good  in  Modem  Thought.  So  far 
from  dogmatizing  arbitrarily,  it  sets  forth  the  most  win- 
ning and  glorious  of  all  facts,  when  it  shows  Jehovah's 
fatherhood,  and  links  that  fatherhood  with,  and  manifests 
it  through,  one  ;  whose  office  is  to  minister  to  our  Salva- 
tion, and  whose  mission  is  attested  by  Divine  anointment. 


172  THE    CEEED   AND   MODEKN    THOIJGIIT. 


'^Bd  lllljom  all  (£l)ing0  mxt  illabc." 

The  complete  intimacy  of  the  union  between  the 
Fathee  and  The  Son,  with  their  entire  coincidence  of 
will  and  communion  of  power,  are  shown  by  the  corre- 
spondence or  rather  conjunction  of  their  acts.  The 
established  principles  of  truth,  as  acknowledged  by 
modern  thought,  are  not  incompatible  with  the  idea  of  a 
Central  Person  in  the  God  head,  in  whichevery  attribute 
■ — power  included — centres.  Nor  are  they  any  more  in- 
compatible with  the  idea  of  an  outaction  of  power, 
through  any  one  of  the  Persons  included  in  the  Sub- 
stantial Divine  Unity.  Hence,  while  God  The  Father  is 
"  Maker  of  Heaven  and  Earth  and  of  all  things  visible 
and  invisible ",  He  may  be  such  as  an  architect  is  the 
maker  of  a  building.  Although  it  cannot  be  too  care- 
fully considered,  that  human  analogies  are  not  sufficient 
to  enable  a  full  explanation  of  the  relationship  of  the 
Divine  Persons ;  it  must  at  the  same  time  be  allowed 
that  we  have  nothing  higher  to  resort  to,  when  we  seek 
for  definite  views,  and  clear  statements  of  the  mode  of 
the  Divine  existence.  It  is  legitimate  therefore  to  speak 
of,  and  believe  in  The  Father,  as  centring  all  power  in 
Himself,  and  yet  doing  the  work  of  creation  through  His 
Son.  The  fact  rests  upon  evidence,  i.e.  revelation, 
which  is  the  only  evidence  possible  of  the  origin  of  that 
universe  of  which  man  is  part. 

The  Old  Testament  sets  forth  in  shadowy  outline,  what 
the  New  Testament  reveals  in  definite  description   or 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      173 

clear  terms  of  assertion.  Several  times,  in  the  former, 
"  The  Wisdom  of  God  "  is  personified  ;  and  "  The  Word 
of  God  "  is  so  used,  that  His  personification  was  a  famil- 
iar idea  to  Jewish  interpreters  ;  as  indeed  it  was,  in  their 
way,  to  Greek  philosophers.  On  these  points  no  argu- 
ment need  be  based  :  yet  they  are  important  as  showing 
that,  like  all  other  realities,  the  full  revelation  of  The 
Son,  as  operative  creator,  cast  its  shadows  before. 

The  creative  Word  of  the  Old  Testament  is  first  pre- 
sented, as  if  it  were  an  emanation  of  speech,  clothed  with 
power,  from  God.  It  affords  however  to  human  reflec- 
tion, a  germ  of  thought.  It  is  not  a  fact  that  can  be  ac- 
cepted and  laid  away,  as  any  dead  value  may  be  stored 
up.  "  God  said  ".  The  peculiaiity  of  that  intervention 
strikes  the  mind  at  once  :  why  "  said "  ?  Why  not, 
plainly  and  directly,  God  made  the  light  and  all  things 
following  ?  What  was  the  significance,  and  intention  of 
the  word  of  God  going  before  the  creative  act  ?  As  by 
the  plural  Elohim  (which  would  make  the  first  verse  of 
the  Bible  read  literally,  '  In  the  beginning  Gods  created, 
etc.')  thought  is  aroused  and  left  unsatisfied,  until  finally 
set  at  rest  in  the  revelation  of  the  Trinity  :  so,  with  this 
term  "  said,"  thought  is  in  like  manner  awakened,  and 
now  and  then  further  stimulated  until  it  rests  finally  in 
the  Person  of  The  Word,  A\lio  was  in  the  beginning  with 
God,  Who  was  God,  by  Whom  all  things  were  made,  Who 
was  hfe  and  the  hght  of  men.     St.  Jn.  I.  1-4. 

The  Wisdom  of  God  is  more  distinctly  personified  in 
the  Old  Testament  than  the  Word.  Of  this,  one  most 
striking   instance,    is   contained  in  The   Proverbs ;    "  I 

Wisdom  dAvell  with  prudence I  love  them  that 

love  Me The  Lord  possessed  Me  in  the  beginning 

of  His  way When  there  were  no  depths  I  was 

brought  forth  ....  before  ....  mountains,  earth 


174  THE   CREED   AlTD   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

.  .  .  fields,  .  .  fountains,  .  .  heavens,  .  .  .  waters, 
,  .  .  then  was  I  by  Him  as  one  brought  up  with  Him, 
and  I  was  daily  His  delight  rejoicing  always  before  Him, 
rejoicing  in  the  habitable  part  of  the  earth ;  and  My 
dehghts  were  with  the  Sons  of  men".    Ch.  YHI.  12-31. 

There  never  appears  any  marked  endeavor  in  the  New 
Testament  to  accord  with  the  Old  :  such,  for  instance, 
as  would  be  found  between  writings  whose  authors  felt 
that  they  gave  ground  of  suspicion  against  themselves. 
Both  show  that  sure  sign  of  genuine  conviction  of  truth, 
and  strong  confidence  in  its  unity,  wliich  is  manifested 
by  substantial  concurrence  in  connection  with  specific 
differences.  Nowhere  is  it  said  in  the  latter,  that  the 
Wisdom  and  the  Word  of  the  former  were  and  are  Jesus 
Christ  ;  yet,  while  the  one  states  that  creation  sprang  up 
at  the  utterance  of  God's  word,  the  other — as  in  S. 
Jn.  I. — distinguishes  the  person  of  The  Word  from  the 
person  of  the  Central  Godhead — yet  declaring  Him  One 
with  God —  ;  and  ascribes  to  Him  the  creative  ac.t,  by  as- 
serting that  it  was  "  His  Son  ....  by  Whom  He  made 
the  worlds  ".  Heb.  I.  2.  Again,  while  Solomon's  person- 
ification of  Wisdom  is  not  mentioned,  yet  St.  Paul,  who 
knew  it  well,  calls  *'  Christ  the  Power  of  God  and  the 
Wisdom  of  God  ".     1  Cor.  I.  24. 

At  this  point  the  Creed  concludes  that  portion  of 
revelation,  which  makes  known  the  relationship  of  Father 
and  Son  in  the  Godhead.  This  relationship  sets  forth 
God  to  man,  as  the  great  fact  of  which  man  is  an  image, 
or  finite  copy.  That  which  in  man  and  in  all  creation — 
viz.  :  love — is  ever  active,  ever  reciprocal,  and  ever  mu- 
tual ;  is  also  found  to  exist  centrally  in  the  very  mode  of 
the  Divine  existence.  Surely  a  human  creature,  who 
knows  enough  of  himself  to  perceive  the  supremacy  of 


THE    CREED    AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  17o 

love  in  Mm  and  over  liim,  cannot  but  experience  peculiar 
gratification,  at  finding  love  active  and  productive,  ever 
existent  in  the  very  source  of  all  good.  The  Godhead 
is  not  a  mere  single  unit  of  icy,  adamantine  power,  but 
a  veritable  circle  of  living  persons,  united  in  one  sub- 
stance, and  capable  of  mutual  council,  cooperative  action, 
and  reciprocal  communion. 

Modern  Thought  cannot  successfully  deny  our  power, 
to  apprehend  this  mode  of  The  Divine.  It  is  impossible 
to  conceive  of  any  fact  more  attractive  to  truly  human 
creatures,  who  live,  or  know  they  ought  to  live  in  love  on 
earth.  God,  while  still  known  and  adored  as  the  Majesty 
on  High,  is,  in  The  Son  of  His  Love,  exhibited  with  a 
true  and  essential  fatherhood.  This  fatherhood  may 
easily  in  thought,  as  it  is  in  The  Word  of  revelation,  be 
extended  out  thro'  Cheist  to  all  men,  who  choose  to  come 
unto  Jesus  ;  and  thus  whoever  will  may  take  a  son's 
place  by  adoption  into  the  family  of  God.  God  indeed 
conceivably  might  save  us  without  adoption,  but  then  we 
should  be  only  His  servants.  Man  cannot  be  a  mere 
servant,  without  violating  not  merely  his  pride  but  his 
very  consciousness  of  essential  dignity.  God,  in  CmiiST 
His  consubstantial  Son,  may  lift  us  up  to  the  post  of 
children  and  friends ;  but  how  He  could  do  it,  by  mere 
merciful  i^ower  does  not  appear.  A  single  personal 
Divine  unit,  could  not  be  essentially  a  father.  He  could 
not  appear,  or  at  best  only  histrionically  appear,  as  a 
father  to  men.  But  our  God  is  The  Eternal  Father,  and 
His  fatherhood  being  without  beginning  or  end,  must 
be  ever  present  and  active,  wherever  His  omnipresence  is. 

The  universal  and  irrepressible  longing  of  man  after 
God,  through  knowledge  of  Him,  is  thus  most  satisfac- 
torily answered  by  The  Creed.  Surely  no  other  formula 
of  faith  presents  God,  so  perfect,  and  yet  so  like  man. 


170      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

The  very  dearest  and  deepest,  pure  human  affections  are 
opened  and  filled  ;  the  highest  conceivable  sense  of  hu- 
man dignity  is  aroused  and  gratified  ;  the  loftiest  possible 
conception  of  a  Deity,  satisfactory  to  all  humanity  and 
sufficient  for  every  true  man,  is  fulfilled  ;  while  every  con- 
ceivable possibility  of  iuture  human  development  rests 
in,  and  grows  up  towards  The  Almighty  Father,  Who  is 
love,  dehghting  in  His  own,  eternal,  consubstantial  Son 
— His  wisdom,  word,  and  power — through  Whom  all 
goodness  outacts,  and  in  Whom  all  free  men  who  choose 
salvation  are  "  united  in  the  adoption  of  sons  ".  "  Where- 
fore thou  art  no  more  a  servant,  but  a  son  ;  and  if  a  son 
then  an  heir  of  God  through  Christ  " !  GaL  IV.  7. 
"  Children  !  then  heirs ;  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs 
with  Christ  "  !     Eom.  VHI.  17. 

The  Creator,  Son,  is  the  preserver  of  all  things,  ever 
"upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  His  power". 
Heb.  I  3. 

Not  only  does  He  call  forth  the  heart's  best  affections, 
but  He  fills  also  the  highest  possible  hope.  He  alone 
does  this.  With  the  Son,  The  Creator,  The  Preserver, 
all  human  capacities  find  fulness  of  exercise  and  satisfac- 
tion. Without  Him,  there  is  no  sure  ground  of  confi- 
dence in  this  world,  and  no  light  shining  beyond.  In 
Him  only  the  Cosmos  dwells  in  light.  In  Him  only 
mankind,  looking  both  within  and  without,  may  every- 
where find  light 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      177 


"lUt)o,    for  U0   Men   ani  for  ®tir   Sabation, 
€ame  Poron  from  i^tavm,'' 

Having  presented  the  Most  High  in  His  fatherhood 
through  The  Eternal  Son,  named  Jesus,  The  Christ  ;  the 
Creed  next  sets  forth  the  starthng,  enrapturing  fact,  that 
this  anointed  Saviour  of  men,  "  being  in  the  form  of  God, 
regarded  not  His  equality  with  God  as  a  thing  to  be 
eagerly  held,  but  divested  Himself  (of  His  divine  glory) 
taking  a  servant's  form,  being  made  in  likeness  of  men". 
Phil.  n.  6,  7.  This  wondrous  condescension  resulted 
from  that  love,  which  is  in  the  essence  of  Tlie  Father  ; 
*'  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  beheveth  in  Him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life  ".     S.  John  HI.  16. 

So  famihar  is  this  transaction  to  all  minds,  that  its 
unique  transcendence  over,  yet  among,  historic  facts,  is 
only  perceived  through  reflection  and  comparison.  Great 
events  have  occurred  on  earth,  and  men  have  been  ex- 
alted by  them  ;  but  how  do  they  appear,  in  comparison 
with  that  of  the  Son  of  God  voluntarily  laying  aside  His 
Heavenly  majesty,  moved  by  and  filled  with  Divine  love, 
coming  down  into  this  darkened  earth,  where  mankind 
are  groping  after  reaUties  and  seeking  the  light;  and 
taking  man's  hkeness,  that  men  may  be  enabled  by  Him 
to  find,  not  merely  coldly  abstract  truth,  and  guidance 
for  groping  mortal  Hfe,  but  even  Him,  Who  Himself  is 
the  truth,  the  light  of  life  which  lighteth  every  man ! 
Most  vividly  do   these   terms   negatively   describe   the 


178      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOrGHT. 

world  without  Christ.  If  He  had  not  descended,  even 
the  rays  of  truth, — spreading  from  Him  over  all  the  world, 
illumining  with  varying  brilliancy  the  religions  and  phil- 
osophies which  have  been  invented  or  preserved  in  frag- 
ments among  historic  peoples — would  then  have  had  no 
manifested,  central  sun  to  keep  up  the  supply  of  light  and 
warmth.  Or  if  we  allow,  what  Christians  can  well  afford 
to  allow,  that  there  is  truth  mingled  among  the  formulas 
of  all  religions,  and  found  in  the  established  principles 
of  all  science  ;  and  if  we  accept  the  corollary  that  Christ — 
Who  said  "  I  am  the  truth  "  S.  Jn.  XIV.  6— therefore 
dwells  wherever  truth  is,  and  may  there  in  some  measure 
be  sought  and  found  ;  yet  this  is  proof  of  the  inestima- 
ble superiority  of  The  Creed  over  all  other  religious 
formularies  and  principles  of  science  :  since  it  alone  ex- 
hibits Christ,  not  merely  as  detached  beams  of  reflected 
light,  but  as  the  Very  Sun  of  Righteousness,  shining  in 
full  revealing,  open  before  the  eyes  of  all  mankind, 
and  manifesting  Himself  as  the  Origin  of  Being  de- 
manded by  Philosophy,  the  source  of  power  required  by 
Science,  as  well  as  the  personal  link  of  communion  be- 
tween man  and  Gon,  Whom  aU  men  need  and  long 
for. 

As,  through  reflection  and  comparison,  the  descending 
Christ  of  The  Creed  appears,  transcending  even  while 
more  or  less  illumining  all  other  religious  revealings  or 
scientific  discoveries  ;  so  also,  by  meditation,  every  one 
who  will  may  put  himself  within  the  compass  of  His  vivi- 
fying presence.  This  fact,  like  all  the  other  facts  or 
rather  parts  of  the  one  great  fact,  which  The  Creed  sets 
forth,  is  not  a  merely  cold  dogma,  for  the  mind  alone  to 
consider,  nor  a  colder  potentiality  for  the  will  to  be  awed 
at  for  fear  of  consequences.  It  is  rather  a  suffusion  of 
earth  by  Heaven,  a  do^vn-po^u.•ing  of  the  Divine  essence 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT^      179 

for  our  renovation,  the  love  of  God  revealed  for  us  to  see 
and  hear  and  grasp  and  embrace,  that  we  may  live. 

There  is  a  dark  side  doubtless  to  this  aspect  of  The 
Christ.  The  earth  turns  away  its  face  from  the  material 
sun,  and  plunges  into  night.  Man,  not  by  necessity,  but 
by  His  original  liberty  never  to  be  taken  away,  may  mis- 
use His  noble  distinction  of  freedom  of  will,  and  turn 
away  from  The  Cheist.  That  point  comes  on  later  in  The 
Creed,  As  yet  it  is  showing  truth  on  its  divine  side : 
and  we  are  looking  at  it,  under  that  common  human 
consciousness  which  modem  thought  has  chosen  to 
champion ;  and  with  those  visual  organs,  which  eveiy 
man  has,  wdthin  and  without,  through  all  his  complex 
unity  of  body,  soul,  and  spirii 

Let  any  sincere  person  meditate,  with  sense,  reason 
and  affection,  on  the  descending  Cheist  !  Has  he  seen 
any  other  fact  so  glorious  ?  Does  history  rival  it  ?  Can 
imagination  excel  it  ?  Has  discovery  any  shining  reahty 
to  set  over  against  it  ?  Has  denial  dimmed  it?  Has  re- 
jection ecHpsed  it  ?  Have  men's  invented  glasses,  of  va- 
rious colors,  done  more  than  theologically  divide  its 
beams  ?  Is  it  not  shining  still,  and  now  as  ever  the  one, 
incomparably  brilliant  sun  containing  in  itself  fill  light, 
and  being  itself  the  sum,  and  the  very  source  of  all  the 
power,  and  beauty  of  ever,  everywhere,  enlightening 
truth? 

Nor  is  the  descending  Christ  of  the  Creed  merely  an 
emanation  from  God.  Much  less  is  He  a  glorious  crea- 
tion of  God.  Very  God  Himself,  He  comes  down  in  love 
and  mercy,  and  stands  among  men.  This  alone  would 
set  Christianity  pre-eminently  above  its  rivals.  But  this 
alone  would  not  satisfy  such  creatiures  as  we  are.  If 
there  were  nothing  further  told  of  Jesus,  Modern 
Thought  would  say,  and  justly,  that  He  would  only  thus 


180      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

claim  lordship  over  us,  and  make  us  his  servants.  It  is 
not  pride,  that  declares  us  incapable  of  being  happy  in 
mere  servitude.  Our  natural  godlikeness  makes  the 
sense  of  obligation,  that  even  love  may  not  repay,  offen- 
sive to  true,  manly  consciousness.  Goodness,  and  glory, 
and  beauty,  and  benevolence  we  may  admire  and  be 
thankful  for ;  but  their  mere  down- shining  on  us,  alone 
considered,  touches  not  in  us  that  spring  of  love,  which 
is  the  fount  of  satisfaction ;  whereby  the  whole  man 
rests,  drinking  forever  immortal  peace,  and  lifting  up  his 
refreshed  heart  joyfully,  in  willing  submission,  with 
adoration. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT.      ISl 


^nb  yxias  Incarnate. 

The  Creed  brings  Cheist  yet  nearer  to  men.  "Witliout 
diminishing  aught  of  His  divinity,  and  only  veiling  for  a 
time  His  glory,  He  is  shown,  as  investing  human  nature 
with  the  high  honor,  and  almost  inconceivable  dignity, 
of  union  with  the  divine  nature. 

The  Son  of  God  becomes  one  of  us.  He  is  no  longer 
afar  off,  amid  Heaven's  glories.  The  beaming  of  His 
love  no  longer  traverses  the  infinite  distance,  between 
the  Father's  right  hand  and  this  misty  dwelling  place  of 
discordant  mankind.  He  has  come  down  to  us ;  nor 
that  alone.  He  has  entered  into  our  nature.  Humanity 
is  taken  by  Him.  The  nature  of  man  has  been,  and  is 
united  in  His  person  to  the  nature  of  God.  The  terms 
are  clear,  and  have  a  safe  meaning  when  taken  literally. 
It  does  not  say  that  any  compound  nature  was  made.  It 
does  not  mingle  the  substance  of  the  creature  with  the 
substance  of  the  creator.  It  does  not  merely  infuse  the 
creature  with  the  divine  spirit.  He,  The  Christ,  the 
person,  the  Jesus  "was  incarnate  ".  He  does  not  merge 
His  Divinity  in  flesh,  so  that  henceforth  He  is  another 
and  compoimd  person,  partly  human  and  partly  divine. 
His  complete  personality,  manifested  before  only  in  the 
Divine  substance,  has  now  taken  into  itself  human  sub- 
stance. The  One,  ever  the  same  Son  of  God,  in  Whom 
"The  Father  of  Heaven"  eternally  delights;  "WTiom 
angels  adore  as  the  Beloved  one,  the  Wisdom  of  God  ; 
Who  hitherto  has  been  manifest  only  in  the  substance  and 


182      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

glory  of  God,  now  takes  human  substance,  and  is  mani- 
fest before  heaven  and  earth  as  man. 

Without  anticipating  what  follows  in  the  Creed,  we 
may  stand  in  view  of  the  incarnation,  and  confidently 
call  on  Modern  Thought  to  look  critically  at,  if  honestly 
into,  that  fact  alone.  As  an  idea,  it  is  not  perhaps  totally 
new ;  for  other  religions  teach  a  kind  of  incarnation. 
Christians  do  not  claim  that  the  Gospel  only  contains 
truth.  They  claim  that  it  is  true  in  itself,  that  it  com- 
prises all  spiritual  truth,  harmonizes  with  all  truth,  and 
that  its  facts  rest  upon  sufficient  evidence.  The  mission 
of  Christianity  is  positive,  rather  than  negative.  The 
Creed  declares  its  points,  without  affirming  facts  else- 
where declared,  and  without  denying  errors.  It  does  not 
enter  into  controversy  at  all.  The  Incarnation  is  simply 
stated.  Ancients  and  moderns  alike  have  it,  as  a  fact  man- 
ifested to  the  few  who  took  part  personally  in  effecting  it, 
and  proved  to  others  upon  sufficient  evidence.  This  man- 
ifestation, with  the  proof,  will  come  duly  under  considera- 
tion, under  the  next  coming  clause.  At  present  it  suffices 
to  view  the  Incarnation,  in  relation  to  that  dignity  of  hu- 
manity, of  which  pure  Christianity  has  been  ever  a  sincere 
advocate,  and  earnest  supporter.  Modern  thought,  how- 
ever jealous  it  may  seem  of  interference  with  liberty  of 
mind,  and  however  sensitive  as  to  the  honor  due  man  as 
man,  is  indebted  after  all,  not  to  human  progress  for  this 
culture,  but  rather  to  Christianity  ;  which  first  boldly  pro- 
claimed that  "God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,"  Acts  X. 
34  ;  "  and  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for 
to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,"  XVH.  26. 

This  great  unit  of  humanity,  comprising  all  nations  and 
individuals,  in  the  dust  and  on  the  earth  ;  this  one  sub- 
stance, once  created  and  since  propagated  ;  this  single 
nature,  in  countless  persons,  becomes  itself  joined  to — 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      1S3 

not  amalgamated  with — the  divine  nature  in  the  person- 
ality of  the  Son  of  God.  A  loftier  honor  for  mankind 
cannot  be  conceived.  Every  stem,  that  shoots  out  from 
the  one  developing  stock  of  humanity,  shares  in  that 
nature  ;  v^^hich  God's  Son  has  ennobled  by  His  indwell- 
ing, and  has  exalted  into  the  honor  and  glory  that  of 
right,  eternally  attach  to  His  own  princely,  heavenly, 
person. 

It  will  be  noticed,  that  the  Creed  does  not  say,  that 
the  person  Cheist  was  joined  to.  the  person  of  a  man. 
Had  it  been  so,  only  that  human  person  would  have 
gained  the  benefit  of  the  incEimation.  He  was  made 
man,  not  a  man,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter. 

Man,  or  mankind,  has  sprung  from  one  natiu'al  root. 
That  natural  root  was  a  person,  named  Adam.  In  him 
aU  mankind  potentially  existed.  The  countless  individ- 
ual men  and  women  of  the  ages  are  partakers  together, 
through  Adam,  of  one  humanity.  While  every  one  is 
distinct  personally  from  every  other,  he  is  inseparable 
fi'om  the  one  stock  of  humanity.  Whatever  is  essential 
to  humanity,  is  possessed  by  every  person.  In  every 
person,  underlying  and  supporting  consciousness,  is  the 
germinal  principle  of  unity.  Life  belongs  to  this  ger- 
minal principle,  and  through  hfe  it  grows,  affects  and  is 
affected,  assimilates,  develops,  and  exhibits  characteris- 
tics. Yet  substantial  humanity,  being  ever  one,  what- 
ever its  Adam  was  by  creation  or  became  germinally  by 
his  own  free  will  and  act,  every  personal  man  becomes 
by  inheritance.  This  is  primary  and  universal.  Tlie 
babe  is  bom,  not  created,  and  hence  is  in  substance 
whatever  procreative  Adam  was  or  became  essentially. 

It  is  unquestionable  that  not  only  life  was  propagated 
by  Adam,  and  through  him  has  flowed  on  ;  but  character- 
istics even  have  descended  from  parents  to  children. 


184      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Moreover  the  inlieritance  of  the  Earth,  with  all  its 
material  developments  and  their  external  and  internal 
consequences,  belongs  yet  to  man. 

Before  entering  upon  the  discussion  of  sin,  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  consider  Adam  and  humanity  as  a  crea- 
tion. Creation  is  under  a  Creator.  Whatever  comes  to 
creatures,  from  a  creator,  must  come  as  a  mere  gift,  or 
boon.  Creatures  as  such,  however  exalted,  are  and  for- 
ever can  be  only  servants.  All  benefit  is  bestowed,  and 
all  duty  imposed.  Adam  was  in  Eden  a  servant.  His 
"help  meet  for  him,"  taken  out  of  him  and  yet  ever  part 
of  him,  part  necessary  to  the  perfect  functional  action 
of  his  body,  part  responsive  to  his  yearning  heart,  and 
part  of  his  spirit  as  beauty  supplements  strength,  did 
not  take  away  servitude.  The  Loed  was  perfect,  and  the 
servitude  as  easy  as  infinite  benevolence  could  make  it. 
Its  surroundings  were  complete,  in  both  w^ealth  and  har- 
mony. Everything  needful,  for  every  sense  and  faculty, 
was  supplied. 

Yet  this  dual  unit,  this  masculine  and  feminine  man,  this 
rounded,  complete,  loving,  and  therefore  contented  crea- 
ture, attained  not  unto  perfect  satisfaction.  This  want 
or  need  was  in  his  nature,  and  was  not  in  itself  a  fault. 
It  meant  something  and  God  was  the  author  of  it.  Desire 
existed.  It  asked  something  more  than  the  creature 
comforts  of  Eden.  Even  the  Divine  companionship,  the 
walking  with  the  Lord  in  the  garden,  produced  nothing 
higher  than  the  relationship  of  good  master  and  good 
servant. 

Adam,  like  all  his  posterity,  w^as  incapable  of  satisfac- 
tion in  mere  servitude.  It  would  not  have  sufficed  merely 
to  have  obeyed,  though  Eden  had  remained,  and  man 
with  all  his  posterity  had  walked,  throughout  life  on 
earth,  amid  the  gardens  of  Paradise.     No  conceivable 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      1S5 

amount  of  wealth  nor  any  measure  of  culture,  could 
place  him  at  ease  in  a  hfe  of  mere  obedience  to  the  mere 
will  even  of  the  Perfect  One.  "The  image  of  Gon,"  in 
which  he  was  created,  Gen.  I.  26-27.  V.  1.  IX.  6.  1  Cor. 
XI.  7,  made  him  so  "  like  God,"  that  his  wiU  must  be  free, 
or  he  would  ever  feel  servitude  as  a  burden  and  a  chain. 
God  had  so  created  him,  that  the  right  and  power  of 
choice  was  more  valuable  and  delightful  than  aught  or 
all  else.  It  was  necessary'  to  his  own  sense  of  manliness. 
It  involved  his  essential  dignity. 

He  was  hasty  in  the  use  of  this  right  and  power,  as 
will  appear  when  sin  comes  under  review  ;  but  in  itself 
it  was  part  of  his  nature,  belonging  to  his  godhkeness. 

In  wonderful,  yet  exceedingly  simple,  indeed  quite 
natural  manner,  the  Bible's  fii'st  picture  of  God  and  man 
is  presented.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  a  scene,  more 
perfectly  accordant  with  the  best  conception  we  can  form 
of  God's  work  of  creation,  completed,  and  pronoimced 
very  good ;  than  that  of  the  gorgeous,  emerald  earth, 
framed  within  the  flecked  canopy  of  the  sapphire  sky, 
lightened  with  the  sun  by  day  and  moon  by  night,  hav- 
ing a  beautiful  garden  in  it  full  of  peaceful  animals  and 
bii'ds,  and  peopled  by  a  pair  of  noble,  and  innocent  crea- 
tures made  after  God's  own  image. 

And  yet,  this  outward  vision  is  not  restful,  and  satis- 
factory. Eden  might  have  been  the  home  of  slaves. 
Adam  and  Eve  might  possibly  have  had  neither  freedom, 
nor  power  of  choice.  If  so,  they  would  have  been  deficient, 
in  that  particular  wherein  lies  man's  noblest  sense  of  per- 
sonal dignity.  Take  away  his  liberty  to  choose  or  refuse, 
and  man  is  enslaved.  If  this  power  had  not  been  orig- 
inally given  him,  he  never  could  have  been  more  before 
God,  than  the  most  perfect  of  machines,  the  most  exalted 
of  beasts,  or  at  best  a  grade  in  the  order  of  angels. 


1S6      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

The  Bible  says  that  man  was  made  in  the  image  of 
God.  The  noblest  power,  with  which  that  living  image 
could  be  endowed,  was  freedom  of  will ;  accompanied 
of  course  with  responsibihty.  Thus  the  godlike  creature 
would  be  enabled  to  elect  the  good,  the  true,  the  loving 
and  the  perfect  One,  as  his  Lord.  A  lord  he  must  have, 
because  he  did  not  create  himself.  He  might  choose 
however  whom  he  would  believe,  trust,  and  follow. 

The  relation  between  God  and  man  was  natural,  sim- 
ple and  perfect.  The  loving  Father — "  The  Everlasting 
Father  " — walked  with  trusting  children,  and  they  com- 
muned together,  not  mediately  through  His  bounties, 
but  directly  person  with  person.  Their  exalted  liberty 
demanded  the  opportunity  of  exercise,  and  God  made  the 
trial  the  lightest  that  was  possible.  His  own  consistency 
demanded  that  His  human  image  and  likeness  should 
exercise  that  facult}^  through  which  alone  it  could  be- 
come His  friend  and  freely  love  Him  :  God  therefore  de- 
nied the  human  pair  only  one  enjoyment,  among  many 
perhaps  intrinsically  equal  or  even  superior. 

The  temptation  that  followed  was  addressed  to  ambi- 
tion, and  the  trial  was  one  of  faith.  The  destiny  of 
mankind  was  poised  upon  the  balance.  Mankind  then 
and  there  exercised  choice.  It  claimed,  and  used  for  it- 
self, the  right  to  offer  allegiance  to  the  Lord  of  its  OAvn 
choosing.  It  put  into  operation  the  liberty,  through 
which  even  yet  flows  either  ruin  or  salvation.  As  Adam 
and  Eve  did,  so  may  and  must  all  mankind  decide, 
whether  they  vnll  believe  God  or  the  Devil. 

Most  intensely  human  is  all  this  story  of  Eden,  and 
the  fall.  Any  innocent  man  and  woman,  in  hke  condition 
and  circumstances,  could  have  acted  like  Adam  and  Eve. 
Every  human  consciousness,  when  searching  the  centre 
of  human  dignity  or  traversing  the  circuit  of  possible 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      187 

glory,  knows  and  declares  that  man  cannot  live  a  slave 
even  to  God  ;  and  that  the  essence  of  freedom  is  the  ex- 
ercise of  choice,  whom  to  beheve,  and  trust,  and  follow. 

Out  of  this  act  flowed  sin,  whence  came  sorrow  and 
danger.  Death,  the  penalty,  followed,  as  God  said.  Not 
probably  mere  material  dissolution  !  That  might  have 
been  inherent  in  the  natural  constitution  of  Adam,  as  it 
evidently  was  and  had  been  in  the  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdom.  The  "  Tree  of  Life  ....  in  the  midst  of  the 
garden,"  Gen.  11.  9,  probably  bore  the  fruit  of  immortal- 
ity ;  of  which,  in  due  time,  eating,  our  first  parents  and 
their  offspring — had  innocence  only  continued — might 
have  had  natural  decay  counteracted,  or  their  physical  sub- 
stance sublimed,  so  that  the  body  would  have  been 
*'  nourished  up  unto  everlasting  hfe."  The  Tree  of  Life 
bore  fruit  which  might  have  been  and  probably  was  "  the 
sacrament  of  immortality."  The  mouth  eating  that  finiit, 
and  the  heart  believing,  the  whole  nature  of  man  might 
have  been  refreshed  and  nourished.  Immortal  life  would 
have  thus  been  secured  against  natural  decay.  Thus  man, 
allied  on  the  one  side  to  perishing  animals,  would  have 
Lad  his  mortality  counteracted  ;  while  in  his  spirit,  aUied 
to  God,  he  would  never  have  felt  the  burden  of  the  flesh. 

Among  all  these  possibilities,  Adam  and  Eve  walked 
free.  They  must  have  been  free,  or  they  never  could 
have  been  the  father  and  mother  of  mankind,  as  it  now 
is.  No  one  of  us  would  have  owned  them,  had  they 
been  compelled  to  think  and  act  and  choose  according  to 
another's  will.  They  might  have  consented  to  submit 
to  another.  They  might  have  been  satisfied  of  their  own 
insufficiency,  of  and  for  self,  and  then  freely  placed  them- 
selves under  the  loving  guidance  and  sure  pi*otection  of 
the  Lord.  Convinced  of  His  truth,  receiving  and  recip- 
rocating His  love,  trusting  His  wisdom,  relying  on  His 


188  THE    CEEED   AND   MODERN   THOIJGHT. 

consistency,  and  fearlessly  thankful  under  His  power, 
they  might  have  accepted  the  test  of  their  constancy  and 
shown  themselves  faithful.  Had  they  done  so,  man's  his- 
tory would  have  been  different :  freedom  would  have 
been  manifested  and  developed,  without  the  hard  con- 
flict with  death  and  sin. 

Finite  creatures,  even  innocent,  would  have  needed 
education.  Godlike  creatures  would  have  needed  edu- 
cation in  godliness.  While  they  remained  infants,  this 
education  would  have  been  dogmatic.  What  they  were 
told,  they  would  lovingly  beheve  and  do.  Dogmas  alone 
however  would  be  unsuited  to  manhood's  season.  Then 
the  sources  of  love,  wisdom  and  power  would  be  sought 
into,  and  developing  reason  would  ask  its  natural  ali- 
ment. God,  being  the  one  source  of  all,  would  open 
Himself  to  manhood's  ken.  Then  the  finite  would  per- 
ceive the  gulf,  between  itself  and  The  Infinite.  Yearn- 
ing, longing,  reaching,  it  could  not  of  itself  find  and 
touch  God  :  and  yet  it  must  find  Him,  or  do  fatal 
violence  to  itself,  by  submitting  to  His  word  without  as- 
sent of  filled  understanding,  or  consent  of  satisfied  love. 
Man's  godlikeness  makes  necessary  such  nearness  of 
communion  with  God,  as  that  God  Himself  should  be  in 
man,  and  man  in  God.  Beauty,  love  and  power  coming 
down,  across  an  abyss  separating  man  from  the  Infinite, 
could  otherwise  only  enter  into  a  soul  imj)risoned.  Im- 
ages of  heaven  though  borne  on  celestial  light,  and 
sounds  of  the  Divine  court  though  coming  along  purest 
aether,  might  delight  with  beauty  or  ravish  with  harmony  ; 
but  they  would  tell  the  mortal  of  his  banishment ;  he 
would  know  by  them  that  God  was  a  Master  far  off,  not 
His  own  Beloved  One,  well  known  and  communing, 
nigh  at  hand. 

A  uniting  link,  between  God  and  man,  is  evidently  a 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      189 

natural  necessity.  TJnfallen  man,  had  he  progressed  be- 
yond infancy,  would  have  felt  that  necessity.  He  could 
not  have  forged  that  link  for  himself.  If  made  at  all 
God  must  make  it.  The  finite,  pausing  on  the  verge  of 
the  dividing  abyss,  feels  and  knows  that  such  as  he  must 
remain  incomplete  and  bound,  or  else  dwell  in  and  with 
God's  fulness,  where  human  will  might  coincide  with  and 
not  merely  obey  the  Divine  will.  God,  Whose  creation 
of  man  caused  this  necessity,  might  meet,  fulfil,  and  re- 
move all  imperfectness  from  it,  by  Divine  incarnation. 
Taking  not  a  man,  but  the  Adamhood,  the  germinal  and 
concrete  man,  into  Himself,  the  deepest  needs  of  the 
creature  would  be  filled,  the  finite  and  the  Infinite  would 
be  joined,  the  created  image  of  God  would  rest  satisfied 
in  its  own  antitype.  The  "  last  Adam  "  1  Cor.  XV.  45, 
took  an  Adamic  relation  to  all  men,  i.e.  He  so  entered 
humanity  that  its  germ,  its  essence,  its  whole  potential- 
ity, became  as  much  part  of  His  person,  as  it  had  been 
naturally  concentred  in  the  person  of  the  first  Adam. 

The  old  dispute  between  the  Nominalists,  the  Kealists 
and  the  Conceptualists,  will  here  come  into  mind  ;  but 
we  need  not  turn  aside  to  consider  it.  The  unity  of  real 
humanity  is  conjointly  a  clear  conception,  as  well  as  a 
fact  and  a  name.  It  exists  in  eveiy  human  person,  but 
the  personality  is  another  and  distinct  conception. 
Every  human  person  has  all  that  is  essential  to  human- 
ity. We  may  however  conceive  of  all  this  essentiality, 
taken  up  into  a  higher  than  human  person,  and  forming 
thereby  part  of  that  one's  higher  personality.  Thus  the 
humanity  of  Jesus  is  complete,  full,  and  Adamic.  He 
takes  hold  of  all  humanity,  through  His  own  body,  soul 
and  spirit ;  and  thus  links  every  human  person,  through 
body,  soul  and  spirit,  to  Himself.  His  own  Self,  or  per- 
son, remains  Divine  however.     He  is  not  God  in  man, 


190      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

nor  man  in  God,  merely,  but  Godman  ;  with  retro-active 
efficiency,  and  everlasting  effectiveness,  of  salvation  for 
man. 

There  was  ona  way  in  which  the  free  manliness  of 
Adam  and  of  all  humanity  could  be  satisfied.  Man  could 
not  be  free  in  like  manner  as  God  is,  because  he  could 
not  control  all  contingencies  and  preserve  universal  har- 
mony.. In  the  midst  of  contingencies  and  subject  to  re- 
lations, man  could  be  lifted  above  the  possibility  of  mis- 
haps, only  by  being  so  joined  to  God  that  his  will  should 
coincide  with  God's  will,  and  his  choice  be  wholly,  not 
subjected  to,  but  united  with  the  Wisdom  and  Word  of 
God. 

This  imj)lies  more  than  willing  assent  to  the  word  of 
God,  when  uttered.  It  involves  such  insight  into  what, 
for  want  of  a  term  of  deeper  significance,  may  be  called 
the  motive  consistency  of  God  ;  as  woiild,  in  every  perfect 
creature,  fill  the  understanding,  satisfy  the  heart  and 
guide  the  assenting  will.  Thus  the  spring,  whence  the 
word  of  God  goes  forth  in  power,  would  be  opened  to 
man,  and  he  would  ever,  in  eager  satisfaction,  go  forth 
with  it,  assenting,  cooperating,  and  accepting  or  doing 
good.  This  gratified  godhkeness  would  complete  man's 
satisfaction.  Not  by  a  vain  or  presumptuous  ambition 
was  man  impelled  to  desire  godlikeness,  in  order  that 
he  might  choose,  and  not  be  forced,  to  will  as  God  wills  ; 
but,  by  the  very  necessity  of  the  Divine  image,  in  wdiich 
he  was  created,  he  must  desu^e  that  his  manliness  be 
recognized  even  before  God. 

The  Incarnation  of  The  Son  of  God  was  His  entrance 
into  humanity,  so  as  to  become  "  the  last  Adam."  There 
are  two  Adams,  one  the  natural  father  of  humanity,  the 
other  in  human  nature  as  a  new  root,  through  Whom  all 
may  be  reached,  and  out  of  Whom  evei-y  human  person 


THE   CEEED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  101 

may  draw  life.  The  vital  circulation  of  body,  soul  and 
spirit,  as  it  sprang  up  with  fhe  first  Adam,  is,  in  and  by 
the  second  Adam,  joined  with,  or  grafted  into  the  hfe 
centre  of  the  Divine  nature. 

If  this  fact  alone  stood  forth  in  the  new  creation,  man 
would  hardly  be  better  off,  than  he  was  in  Eden.  The 
ingrafting  of  all  hiunanity  into  Christ,  if  left  to  act 
naturally,  would  simply  produce  a  compulsory  salvation  ; 
wherein  the  will  of  man  would  yet  remain  enslaved.  His 
godlikeness  would  be  shorn  of  its  glory.  His  dignity 
would  be  gone.     He  would  be  a  servant  still. 

Hence  this  incarnation  limits  its  own  operation,  as 
God  has  Hmited  the  inheritance  of  humanity  tlirough 
Adam.  "Whatever  was  in  the  first  Adam  flows  naturally 
into  his  posterity.  But  every  human  individual  retains 
the  original  godlikeness.  He  is  free  to  choose  and  refuse. 
He  is  not  compelled  to  all  the  consequences  of  Adam's 
choice  and  act.  His  own  free  will  operates  to  the  deter- 
mination of  his  own  destiny.  So,  under  the  second 
Adam,  the  new  life  is  not  compulsive.  It  operates  on 
all,  counteracting  involuntary  evil,  but  not  coercing  the 
power  of  choice.  It  could  not  coerce  that  power,  and 
leave  us  men. 

If  Adam  had  remained  sinless,  he  would  have  repelled 
.temptation  indeed,  but  not  by  denying  his  desii-e  to  be 
like  God.  He  would  have  repHed  to  the  Tempter,  that  he 
had  no  wish  to  be  "  as  gods."  He  would  have  acknowl- 
edged "  the  desire  to  be  wise,"  but  would  have  waited  to  be 
satisfied  until  God  saw  fit.  He  would  have  confided,  i.e. 
put  faith  in  The  Lord,  and  not  in  haste  changed  his  con- 
fidence. His  whole  fault  was  instability  of  faith.  Had 
he  held  on  and  trusted  God,  doubtless  the  incarnation 
of  the  Son  would  in  due  time  have  been  accomplished, 
and  the  utmost  need  of  Adam  and  of  all  mankind  would 


102      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

thus  have  been  met  and  filled.  The  Incarnation  is  there- 
fore no  "  afterthought  of  God."  It  was  involved  in  the 
necessities  of  the  first  creation.  It  was  originally  neces- 
sary to  complete  the  design  of  The  Lord,  in  making  man 
"  after  our  likeness."     Gen.  I.  26. 

Thus  the  very  highest  dignity  of  human  nature  is  not 
only  left  intact  in  its  completeness,  but  exalted  also,  by 
the  entrance  into  it  of  the  "Beloved  One,"  God's  only 
begotten  Son,  our  Lord.  The  Creed  is  here  again  not  a 
forge  of  dogmatic  chains  to  bind  free  men  withal ;  but  the 
very  jealous  supporter,  and  defender  of  the  largest  free- 
dom and  greatest  gloiy  of  mankind.  All  accumulations 
of  history  may  be  ransacked  in  vain,  to  find  a  fact  to  par- 
allel the  Incarnation.  Philosophy,  poetry  and  invention 
of  every  kind  do  not,  with  all  their  riches  and  with  all 
their  pictures,  approach  the  transcendent  fact,  that  man- 
kind is  and  every  man  may  be  so  joined  to  the  central  life 
of  God,  that  his  human  will,  without  coercion,  shall  assent 
and  consent  to  all  things — present  and  future  in  heaven 
and  in  earth-— that  effect,  or  affect  his  own  well  being. 

The  Incarnation  is  undoubtedly  a  mystery.  Divine 
mysteries  however  are  given,  not  for  our  confusion,  but 
for  our  learning.  It  may  be  difficult  for  us  to  perceive 
the  important  distinctions,  between  the  fact  that  Jesus 
was  incarnate  ;  and  the  falsehoods,  that '  He  entered  into 
the  person  of  a  man,  or  that  His  Divinity  infused  and 
vitalized  the  form  of  a  man,  or  that  He  made  a  new  com- 
pound, or  that  He  in  any  way  became  something  else 
than  God's  Son,  in  something  imperfectly  human.'  In- 
numerable inventions  have  come  forth,  in  ancient  and 
modern  times,  intending  to  modify  the  incarnation  ;  but 
the  old,  simple,  and  full  significance  of  the  fact,  not  only 
stands,  but  is  the  only  view  that  saves  for  man  his  origi- 
nal and  essential  glory  of  godlikeness. 


TIIE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      193 

We  may  not  see  fully  and  clearly  how  a  second  Adam 
can  enter  into  humanity,  in  the  midst  of  its  develop- 
ment, and  operate  upon  it,  from  its  first  root  to  its  last 
bud,  with  the  efficiency  of  the  natui-al  first  man.  It  is 
not  enough  *to  say  that  He  operates  upon  the  mind,  or 
upon  the  affections,  for  a  very  important  part  of  every 
person  is  the  body,  while  underlying  body,  heart  and 
mind,  and  comprising  them,  is  that  "I"  or  personal 
identity,  which  must  have  Hfe  given  or  restored  to  its 
roots.  In  some  way,  corresponding  to  the  flow  of  the 
first  Adam's  life  into  every  man,  must  the  second  Adam 
also  flow  through  mankind.  Although  we  may  not  com- 
prehend the  process,  we  may  accept  the  act,  as  within 
the  possibilities  of  Omnipotence  ;  then,  as  a  fact,  we  may 
use  it  to  show  how  every  individual  partaker  of  the 
human  nature,  thus  exalted,  may,  by  rightly  using  the 
means  thus  extended  to  him,  effect  his  own  personal  ex- 
altation to  a  position  where  God's  will  shall  draw  him 
into  willing  assent,  and  not,  however  tenderly,  compel 
his  submission.  The  Incarnation,  as  it  unites  human 
nature  with  the  Divine  nature,  through  the  Only  "  Son 
of  God  "  and  the  Only  "  Son  of  Man  " — not  a  pei*son- 
man,  nor  son  of  a  man — reaches  thereby  up  to  Adam, 
and  down  to  the  last  babe  that  shall  be  born.  It  reaches 
with  all  effectiveness  of  life  and  restoration — that  only 
excepted  in  which  human  dignity  and  hence  human 
satisfaction  is  involved.  It  reaches  to  the  outer  verge 
of  compulsion.  It  does  every  thing,  but  compel  any 
person  to  receive  the  full  blessing  of  its  benefits.  It 
alone  declares  man  the  most  glorious  of  all  creatures,  and 
shows  him  how,  restoring  and  reviving  his  godlikeness, 
he  may  ascend  in  body  soul  and  spirit  to  the  high  post 
of  friendship,  S.  Jn.  XV.  15,  and  joint  heu^ship,  Rom. 

Vni,  17,  with  the  Christ,  and  even  become  "partaker 
9 


194      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

of  the  Divine  nature.'  2  S.  Pet.  I.  4.  The  Incarnation 
exalts  humanity,  through  everlasting  union  with  Deity 
in  the  one  person  of  The  Son,  to  the  very  throne  of 
God.  Every  personal  sharer  in  that  one  human  essence, 
and  substance,  is  reached  by  the  Godmasn ;  while  his 
person  remains  intact,  his  freedom  undiminished,  and 
his  dignity  unassailed.  The  consequence,  to  any  person, 
is  left  for  that  person  in  his  freedom  to  determine. 

Had  Adam  and  his  posterity  retained  innocence,  the 
Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  would  have  operated  upon 
Adam  and  all  his  posterity  without  bar  or  hindrance. 
He  and  they  would  have  known  God  in  that  deep  of 
nature,  wherein  the  fountain  of  life  and  spring  of  motive 
lies  hidden.  The  first  human  consciousness  would  have 
shown  coincidence,  between  the  human  and  the  Divine 
will.  Obedience  would  have  been  willing  acquiescence, 
and  not  mere  subjection. 

Adam,  however,  was  too  impatient.  His  longing  for 
knowledge  was  natural,  but  the  gratification  of  that  long- 
ing he  basely  sought  through  disobedience.  His  trial 
was  necessary  to  his  manliness.  He  was  under  the 
natural  necessity,  of  choosing  in  whom  he  would  be- 
lieve. Not  being  self-sufficient,  he  was  obliged  to  choose 
a  guide.  God,  in  respect  for  human  dignity,  did  not, 
and  consistently  could  not  compel  man's  choice.  The 
truth  was  told.  Then  Adam  was  left  to  decide  for  him- 
self whether  he  would  believe  God,  or  tiTist  the  Tempter. 
The  two  guides  were  before  Him.  He  chose  to  follow 
the  one,  who  seemed  to  answer  his  need  of  free  choice, 
rather  than  wait  in  faith  until  the  other  should,  in  His 
own  time  and  in  His  own  way,  open  a  path,  wherein 
man's  assent  to  the  Divine  will  would  enable  him  to  obey 
willingly.  The  occasion  of  sin,  was  also  an  occasion  for 
faith,     He  should  have  trusted  in  the  Loio)  willingly,  and 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      195 

kept  the  commandment ;  not  because  lie  dared  not  dis- 
obey, but  because  the  Lord's  goodness  was  assurance 
that  nothing  would  be  requu'ed  of  him  than  what  tended 
towards  happiness  and  peace.  The  act  of  disobedience 
was  the  form  of  sin's  first  manifestation  ;  but  the  sin  it- 
self lay  deeper.  Before  acting,  ou*  first  parents  dis- 
trusted God,  and  believed  Satan.  The  power  of  choice 
was  exerted  in  putting  faith,  not  in  God  but  in  the 
Tempter.  The  fall  therefore  was  a  suicidal  separation 
from  Him,  Who  is  life  and  Hght.  Death  was  the  natural 
and  inevitable  j)enalty,  or  rather  consequence.  In  turn- 
ing away  fi*om  God,  man  elected  an  opposite  to  union 
and  communion  with  God.  Death  has  many  forms. 
The  dissolution  of  the  mortal  body  is  only  one  of  its 
forms.  This,  and  every  other  constituent  of  death,  is  in- 
cluded in  separation  from  God. 

Though  the  first  sin  was  distrust  of  God  and  faith  in 
Satan,  the  consequences  were  various  and  complicated. 
Disobedience  followed  in  various  forms,  and  the  death- 
consequence  developed  through  innumerable  fatal  mala- 
dies of  soul  and  body.  The  whole  nature  of  man  was  in- 
volved, because  the  tiu*ning  away  from  God  was  a  com- 
plete personal  act.  God  could  not,  consistently  with 
His  own  original  grant  to  man  of  godlikeness,  turn  him 
back  to  obedience  by  force.  Man,  in  that  case,  would 
have  been  only  a  slave  forever.  The  chosen  evil  must  be 
left  to  work  through  natural  channels.  All  men  come 
into  being  through  natural  channels.  Every  human 
creature,  when  born,  meets  and  is  affected  by  the  evil  of 
sin.  The  unity  of  the  human  race  compels  every  person 
to  share,  not  only  in  the  corruption  that  poisoned  the 
germ  of  humanity,  but  in  the  guilt  incurred  by  that 
germ,  together  with  the  penalty  declared  against  it.  All 
mankind  are  Adam,  in  course  and  process  of  develop- 


196      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

ment :  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and 
death  by  sin  ;  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  in 
whom  all  sinned."     Bom.  V.  12. 

The  distinctive  dignity  of  freedom  is  as  natural  and 
necessary  to  everj^  one  of  Adam's  posterity,  as  it  was  to 
the  first  man  himself.  The  circumstances,  into  which  he 
is  boi-n  and  through  which  his  life  passes,  are  different ; 
but  the  essential  glory,  and  solemn  responsibility  of  lib- 
erty of  choice,  the  very  requisite  of  manliness,  the  origi- 
nal godlikeness  remain  yet  undestroyed.  In  every  per- 
son's life  the  same  two  currents  of  power  meet.  Natural 
development  brings  on  all  that  was  germinal  in  Adam. 
The  diseased  germ  transmits  disease  to  all  after  growth. 
But  the  malady  and  penalty  of  sin,  which  nature  brings, 
finds  in  us,  everj^  one,  fi-eedom  of  will.  Through  that 
freedom,  sin  originally  entered  into  man  ;  and  that  same 
freedom  is  left,  thro'  which  to  repair  the  loss,  and  avert 
the  consequences. 

The  Incarnation,  as  it  might  have  perfected  innocent 
man,  may  now  restore  fallen  man.  The  entrance  into 
human  nature  of  the  Son  of  God  is  remedial.  This  fact 
is  the  assurance  of  all  possible  good,  to  the  human  race 
as  it  is ;  besides  being,  as  already  seen,  an  unspeakable 
honour  and  harbinger  of  eternal  glory.  As  every  crea- 
ture born  into  the  world  incurs,  through  the  first  Adam, 
sin  ;  so,  through  the  second  Adam,  he  inherits  grace  ! 
"  For  if  by  one  man's  offence  death  reigned  by  one  ; 
much  more  they  which  receive  abundance  of  grace  and 
of  the  gift  of  righteousness  shall  reign  in  life  by  one 
Jesus  Christ."     Eom.  V.  17. 

Viewed  only  on  the  side  of  natural  development,  the 
Incarnation  is  the  cure  for  the  fall  and  its  consequences. 
But  the  power  of  the  incarnation  comes  into  contact  with 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      197 

human  freedom  of  will.  As  the  Creator  could  not  con- 
sistently coerce  man's  will,  even  to  save  his  innocence,  so 
cannot  the  Redeemer  compel  his  salvation.  Thus,  the 
abounding  grace  of  the  incarnation,  respects  human  dig- 
nity. Its  help  is  abundant  and  ready,  and  its  natural 
operations  active  ;  but  the  man  must  be  a  man  still,  even 
when  restored  through  the  incarnation. 

This  vast  circuit  of  cause  and  consequence,  involving 
all  human  history,  touching  every  one's  destiny,  and 
hnked  to  the  very  essence  of  the  Godhead,  however  per- 
sonally regarded  by  any  mind,  must  be  allowed  by  all  to 
reveal  to  mankind  an  unrivalled  labor  or  conflict ;  while 
it  holds  forth  a  crown  of  glory  to  victors,  and  splendor 
of  reward  to  toilers,  to  which  nothing  else  in  heaven  or 
earth — existing  or  conceivable — is  comparable. 

The  judicial  questions  about  sin  arise  out  of  subse- 
quent articles  in  the  Creed.  "We  need  not  anticipate 
them,  further  than  has  been  required  by  the  considera- 
tion already  given  to  free  will  in  connection  with  the  In- 
carnation. 

We  may  pass  now  to  the  means  and  mode  of  effecting 
the  Incarnation. 


198      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 


"lUl)o  was  concebA  bg  i\)t  (Jolw  ®l)ost/*  "Jncar^ 
natt  bg  i\]t  i^olg  ®l)ost  of  tl)e  iJirgin  fllarn.'* 

The  complete  offspring  of  a  human  father  and  a  hu- 
man mother  is,  and  only  can  be,  a  human  person.  The 
offspring  of  a  human  mother,  "conceived"  by  direct 
Divine  power ; 

1.  Cannot  be  a  merely  human  person,  because  he  is  not 
humanly  conceived  ;  and  may  not  in  any  sense  be  a  hu- 
man person,  because  one  factor  of  natural  personahty, 
the  human  paternity,  is  wanting  : 

2.  Cannot  be  a  person  with  compound  nature,  part 
human  and  part  Divine,  because  the  Infinite  essence  can- 
not receive  from,  nor  mingle  with  the  finite  : 

3.  Must,  therefore,  take  the  nature  received  from  the 
mother  into  union  mth  His  Divine  nature,  by  extending 
His  original,  indefeasible,  and  indivisible  personality 
around  it. 

The  mind  of  man  is  capable  of  apprehending  such  a 
fact  as  this.  It  may  be  stupendous,  or  comj)lex,  or  sus- 
ceptible of  blasphemous  perversions,  or  suggestive  of 
heathen  analogies,  or  even  mysterious  ;  but  it  is  possible. 
It  may  not  accord  with  those  notions  of  the  fitness  and 
sufficiency  of  a  direct  and  simple  operation  of  God  upon 
man,  which  a  disproportionate  intellectual  culture  de- 
mands, but  it  may  nevertheless  be  real.  Whatever  ob- 
jections may  be  made  to  it,  the  fact  in  itself  must  be 
allowed  to  declare  an  inexpressible  advancement,  in  dig- 
nity and  honor,  vouchsafed  to  human  nature.     However 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      100 

disinclined,  theological  prudery  may  be  to  look  at  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  or  however  a  corrupt  culture 
may  turn  away  from  it,  there  is  a  wonder  of  wonders, 
which  "  the  pure  in  heart "  may  behold  adoringly,  in 
**'The  King  of  Glory,"  *'the  Everlasting  Son,"  Who 
"didst  not  abhor  the  Virgin's  womb."  To  this  depth 
are  we  carried  by  the  word  "  conceived."  To  this  depth 
must  we  go  in  order  to  receive  the  fact,  that  the  Incarna- 
tion was  thorough,  germinal,  and  complete. 

That  all  this  is  possible,  cannot  be  questioned.  That 
it  verily  may  be,  must  be  allowed.  Therefore  its  credi- 
bihty  is  simply  dependent  upon  evidence.  The  details 
are  contained  in  the  one  record  and  assured  Book  of  tes- 
timony and  Divine  revelation.  The  Bible.  They  are  true 
because  the  Bible,  as  a  whole,  is  estabhshed  as  authen- 
tic, and  genuine.  The  authentic  and  genuine  Book  of 
God's  word  may  conceivably  be  corrupted  by  interpola- 
tions ;  but  it  is  inconceivable  that  any  great  fact  stated 
in  the  Bible,  tested  duly  at  its  occurrence,  accepted  then 
by  a  capable  body  of  believers,  and  ever  after  attested  by 
an  unbroken  chain  of  endorsers  who  worked  by  power  of 
the  fact,  can  be  other  than  the  truth. 

More  than  seven  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  the  prophet  Isaiah  pubhckly  proclaimed  and 
wrote,  "  Behold  a  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a  son, 
and  shall  call  his  name  ImraanueL"  Like  all  the  ancient 
prophecies,  this  was  left  shining  in  briUiant  but  misty 
light,  among  the  nebulous  truths  floating  undefined  in- 
deed, but  open  and  visible  in  the  space  of  the  old  revela- 
tion. Men  saw  them,  believed,  and  wondered.  Their 
cohesion  into  hard  facts,  and  their  mutual  relations  were 
future.  When  the  time  came,  fulfilment  confirmed  pro- 
phecy. 

"  Mary  ....  was  found  with  child  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 


200      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

"  The  LoED  appeared  ....  saying  ....  that  which  is 
conceived  in  her  is  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  she  shall 
bring  forth  a  son  and  thou  shalt  call  His  name  Jesus  : 
for  He  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins." 

"  Novsr  all  this  was  done  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which 
was  spoken  of  the  Lord  by  the  prophet,  saying,  *  Behold  a 
virgin  shall  be  with  child  and  shall  bring  forth  a  son, 
and  his  name  shall  be  called  Emmanuel,  which  being  in- 
terpreted is  God  with  us.'  "     S.  Matt.  I.  18-23. 

S.  Luke,  I.  26-38,  relates  the  same  fact,  with  beau- 
tiful adjuncts,  wherein  appear  an  Angel  with  a  message, 
and  a  meek  maiden  fearlessly  receiving  the  word,  Avith 
pure  frankness  objecting,  and  then  submissively  bending 
to  God's  will. 

"  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea."  S.  Matt.  H.  1. 

"  Joseph  also  went  ....  unto  the  city  of  David, 
which  is  called  Bethlehem  ....  to  be  taxed  with  Mary, 
his  espoused  wife,  being  great  with  child.  And  so  it 
was,  that  while  they  were  there,  the  days  were  accom- 
plished that  she  should  be  delivered.  And  she  brought 
forth  her  first  born  son,  and  wrapped  him  in  swaddling 
clothes,  and  laid  him  in  a  manger ;  because  there  was 
no  room  for  them  in  the  inn."     S.  Lu.  H.  4-7. 

The  conception  by  the  Holy  Ghost  is  entirely  compat- 
ible with  the  fact,  that  the  Son  of  God  took,  upon  and 
into  Himself,  human  nature.  The  Trinity,  while  con- 
current, is  not  actually  one,  in  will  and  act.  It  apportions 
to  every  Person  His  own  specific  works.  The  initiative 
springs  always  from  the  source  of  Divinity,  centred  in 
the  person  of  the  Father  ;  but  the  operative  functions 
act  through  "  The  Word  "  by  "  The  Lord  and  Giver  of 
Life,"  effecting  the  end  directly  through  their  personal 
agency.  The  love  of  the  Father  gave  the  Son,  S.  Jn.  HL 
16.       The  Son  "made  Himself  of  no  reputation,  and 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      201 

took  Upon  Him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in 
the  Hkeness  of  men,"  Phil.  11.  7  :  though  sent  by  the 
Father,  He  came  of  His  own  free  will,  and  for  designs, 
remedial  and  royal,  of  His  own.  St.  Jn.  YHE.  14,  42. 
XH.  47.  XVHL  37.  S.  Lu.  V.  32.  And  yet  the  creative 
SpniiT,  the  inspirer  of  the  sacred  artist,  Ex.  XXXI.  3, 
of  the  elders  and  kings  and  prophets  of  old,  so  wrought 
that  "  Mary  was  found  with  child  of  the  Holy  Ghost," 
and  that  which  was  born  of  her  was  called  "  The  Son  of 
God,"  "Immanuel,"  and  was  named  "Jesus  for  He 
shall  save  His  people  from  their  sins."    S.  Matt.  I.  18-21. 

The  miraculous  conception  was  an  official  action  by 
Him,  to  Whom  in  the  order  of  the  working  Trinity  was 
committed  the  function  of  giving  Hfe.  He  gave  human 
life  to  the  germ  in  the  mortal  mother,  and  the  Son  of 
God  took  that  germ,  with  all  its  developments,  up  into 
His  own  personality.  Thus  all  distinctions  are  pre- 
served, and  the  wonderful  result  is  effected.  There  is 
neither  confusion,  nor  incompleteness.  In  perfect  har- 
mony with  all  other  revelations  about  God,  and  quite 
within  the  powers  of  human  apprehension,  stands  the 
fact  of  the  Immaculate  Concejption  ;  thus  our  Lord,  The 
Christ,  is  shown  to  men  in  all  ages,  as  radically  united 
to  humanity. 

The  depth  and  completeness  of  this  fact  is  necessary 
to  be  perceived,  and  accepted  by  whoever  will  under- 
stand the  subsequent  facts  of  the  Creed  with  their  con- 
sequences. The  reahties  of  which  it  treats  are  not  mere 
ideas  for  mental  contemplation,  nor  solely  wonders  to  be 
pondered  devoutly.  They  are  facts,  which  stand  to- 
gether like  stones  in  a  building.  They  have  each  their 
place,  upon  which  the  perfectness  of  the  building  de- 
pends. 

The  efficiency  of  the  Saviour,  as  the  one  Jesus  for  all 
9* 


202      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

humanity  and  for  every  man  of  good  will,  depends  upon 
the  perfectness  of  His  own  manhood  ;  while  that  involves 
the  necessity,  of  what  the  Bible  definitely  asserts,  viz.  : 
that  the  veriest,  and  farthest,  essentially  human  germ 
was  taken  into  Himself,  and  made  part  of  his  own  per- 
son, by  God's  son. 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.       203 


"Bomoftl)el)irgmfIl 
"2lnb  was  maire  man." 

Not  was  made  a  man.  As  a  person  man,  He  might 
have  set  a  worthy  example,  and  handed  it  down  the  ages 
for  imitation.  As  such  He  might  also  have  gone  on 
through  suffering  to  death,  "even  the  death  of  the 
cross,"  for  the  purpose  of  showing  to  mankind  the  no- 
bleness and  worthiness  of  the  utmost  endurance  of 
shame,  and  pain,  and  loss,  for  the  sake  of  the  truth.  He 
would  thus  have  made  Himself  a  name  among  men  ;  ex- 
alted according  to  the  estimate  made  of  His  comparative 
greatness.  As  capacity  to  apprehend  is  an  important 
factor  in  opinion  ;  so  it  might  have  happened  that  an 
individual  man  Jesus  would,  for  want  of  capacity  in  his 
judges,  have  been  classified  high  or  low  among  other 
great  men.  Though  it  is  true  in  fact  that  Jesus  has  been 
generally,  though  not  by  all,  assigned  the  first  place 
among  men,  by  persons  of  knowledge  and  culture,  who 
have  regarded  Him  as  merely  a  man,  at  least  where  what 
is  called  "  Christian  civihzation  "  prevails  ;  yet,  beyond 
Christendom,  He  has  been  dishonored  both  by  charges 
of  imposture,  and  by  the  patronage  of  impostors.  Of 
late  days,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  some  persons, 
even  amid  the  wonderful  persistency  of  Christianity,  con- 
sidered merely  as  a  culture  or  a  power,  risk  their  intel- 
lectual reputations,  by  proudly  criticizing  Jesus  as  if  He 
were  a  personal  man. 

If  He  were  merely  a  human  person,  he  could  only  af- 


204      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

feet  US  externally.  He  could  appeal  to  our  understandings 
and  affections  and  wills,  if  He  designed  good  to  us  with 
due  regard  to  our  dignity  of  freedom  ;  or,  if  He  did  not 
BO  respect  us,  He  might  force  benefits  upon  us,  in  virtue 
of  His  superior  knowledge  and  power.  In  tlie  first  case 
we  might  reverence,  or  love  Him,  and  in  the  latter  case 
take  His  gifts  in  irresponsive  silence,  coldly  and  thank- 
lessly ;  but  the  deep  of  human  nature  could  not  be 
reached  by  such  an  one.  An  individual  man  is  too  nar- 
row a  base  on  which  to  upbuild  renovated  humanity. 
That  indefeasible,  inalienable,  and  originally  created 
godlikeness,  into  which  every  human  creature  is  born,  to- 
gether with  that  consequent  sense  of  the  self-necessity 
of  liberty  even  before  God,  would  have  remained  un- 
reached and  unprovided  for,  had  even  God's  Son  become 
a  human  person,  a  man  rather,  than  man.  Man,  in 
Cheist,  is  humanity  taken  into  a  Divine  person.  Eveiy 
partaker  of  humanity  is  thus  practically,  though  myste- 
riously, made  capable  of  sharing  in  both  the  benefit  and 
the  operation  of  that  close  communion  with  God,  which 
the  CnRisT-man  has  attained.  Since  humanity  grows 
out  naturally  from  the  first  Adam,  therefore  every  human 
creature,  however  remote,  whatever  he  may  have  assim- 
ilated, remains  rooted  in  Adam.  Humanity  is  germinal 
in  the  whole,  and  germinating  in  every  portion,  of  the 
human  organism.  Every  human  person,  because  partak- 
ing of  humanity,  may  live  not  only  in  Christ  by  organic 
union,  but  may  also  enter  into  and  share  His  inheri- 
tance. 

The  absorption,  through  disintegration,  of  human 
individuals  into  an  organic  human  mass  is  prevented, 
by  that  distinctive  personal  completeness,  which  is  as 
much  part  of  the  original  godlikeness,  as  is  the  great 
dignity  of  freedom  itself.     This  duality  has  mutual  limi- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      2C5 

tations.  We  must  come  organically  close  to  God,  in 
order  that  His  will  may  spring  up  in  us,  and  our  wills 
may  harmonize  with  His,  before  a  command  can  be 
heard,  or  a  fiat  touching  us  can  be  proclaimed.  This  is 
only  possible  through  an  organic  union  of  man  with 
God,  the  efiicient  cause  of  which  is  the  Incarnation.  Yet 
personahty,  and  even  human  individuality,  cannot  be 
absorbed.  While  willingly  coinciding  with  God,  through 
all  the  inward  depths  of  consciousness,  the  man  remains 
himself  and  no  other,  his  own  self,  personally  conscious, 
assenting,  coactive  and  free. 

This  duahty — of  sub-conscious  organic  operation  with 
conscious  knowledge,  affection,  motive,  will  and  action — 
is  not  to  begin  anew  at  "  the  restoration  of  all  things." 
It  exists  now,  and  is  operative  every  moment,  in  every 
living  human  person.  It  is  also  mutually  reactive.  Even 
in  the  mere  sustenance  of  the  body,  conscious  eating 
leads  to  sub-conscious  digestion,  whereby  the  organism  is 
repaired  and  the  functions  invigorated.  In  every  depart- 
ment the  same  operative  mutuahty  may  be  traced.  Thus 
the  whole  man,  in  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  is  in  need  of 
life,  beneath  and  above,  in  order  that  his  physical,  psy- 
chical, and  spiritual  parts  may  be  vivified  and  nourished 
at  root,  as  well  as  kept  active  and  harmonious  in  free, 
conscious  vigor. 

Although  not  a  human  person,  Christ  was  made  man 
perfectly.  He  was  not  a  physical  man  merely,  in  whom 
Divinity  dwelt  in  place  of  a  soul ;  for  then  He  could  not 
humanly  take  hold  of  man  in  all  parts  of  his  essence  and 
save  the  godlike  creature  that  man  is.  Being  under  that 
supposition  something  else  than  man,  he  could  not  reach 
to  the  root  of  our  organism.  The  soul,  or  psychical  part 
of  humanity,  Christ  must  also  have  taken  for  the  same 
reason.     The  spirit,  that  third  constituent  of  humanity. 


206      THE  CEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

■wherein  we  have  affinity  neither  with  soulless  material 
nor  with  the  souls  of  animals,  and  which  alone  among 
creations  is  naturally  integral  and  immortal,  though  won- 
derfully originated  by  "  the  breath  of  God,"  is  yet  part 
of  essential  humanity.  As  man,  Christ  must  have  had 
a  human  body,  and  soul,  and  spirit. 

That  further  distinctiveness  of  man,  free  wiU — through 
which  character  is  formed,  round  which  centre  all  possi- 
bilities of  glory  or  disgrace,  and  on  which  now  and  for- 
ever depend  our  good  or  evil — must  have  been  human  in 
Christ. 

In  all  respects  therefore  He  was  man.  Humanitj^,  dis- 
tinct by  creation  from  Deity,  is  in  Christ  conjoined  to 
Deity;  making  "one  altogether,  not  by  confusion  of 
substance  but  by  unity  of  person." 

The  Creed,  in  thus  declaring  the  Godman,  continues 
preeminently  reverential  to  manhood.  All  other  formu- 
las, and  all  other  religions,  scientific,  philosophical,  poetic, 
or  the  merely  fanciful  systems  or  fragments  of  belief, 
may  be  confidently  challenged,  to  present  anything  com- 
parable to  the  Incarnation  ;  or  to  show  any  other  way, 
by  which  the  salvation  of  men  could  result  in  an  exalta- 
tion more  wonderful  in  external  aspect,  or  more  com- 
plete, perfect,  and  radical  in  internal  operation. 

Now  surely  the  Creed  may  rise  above  apologetics.  It 
need  no  longer  be  defended  against  the  charge  of  tyranny 
over  free  souls.  Instead  of  a  trammel  upon  human 
liberty,  it  is  the  very  bulwark  of  human  Uberty.  Not 
only  does  it  set  forth  the  most  perfect  glory  of  mankind  ; 
but  it  shows  how  that  glory  is  attainable,  and  how  only 
it  can  be  attained  consistently  with  that  manhood's  dig- 
nity, whose  loss  would  make  all  things  loss,  and  whose 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      207 

preservation,  amid  surrounding  harmonies,  is  the  assur- 
ance of  eternally  restful  satisfaction,  with  the  fruition  of 
all  joy. 

The  union  of  the  Divine  and  human  natures,  in  the 
person  of  the  One  Only  Begotten  Son  of  God,  is  an  ad- 
vancement of  humanity  at  large  ;  which,  once  perceived, 
can  never  cease  to  remain  as  a  present  fruition,  and  ever 
expanding  vision  of  glory.  "When  that  union  is  further 
seen  to  be,  not  a  passing  pageant,  but  an  effective,  per- 
manent means  of  every  human  person's  possible  exalta- 
tion into  union  with  God  ;  then  it  takes  rank  at  the 
head  of  all  reaUties,  as  it  is  essentially  the  noblest  of  all 
possibilities.  The  Incarnation  of  Jesus,  involving  His 
full,  perfect  and  complete  manhood,  is  the  one  fact, 
which  not  only  shows  Christianity  superior  to  all  other 
systems  of  science  or  religion  ;  but  makes  it  transcendent, 
as  the  only  faith  wherein  man's  true  dignity  is  secured, 
his  capacities  filled  in  fruition  and  promise,  his  heart 
satisfied,  his  mind  stored  full  yet  left  expanding  with  new 
stores  ever  inpouring,  and  his  whole  being  harmonized. 
The  sense  of  personal  dignity,  that  inalienable  right  of 
manhood,  is  preserved  through  Cheist's  manhood ;  for 
in  Him — the  human  nature  being  joined  to  God,  and  en- 
throned with  God — every  sharer  in  humanity  may,  and, 
if  he  cheerfully  accept  the  lightly  imposed  but  needful 
conditions  of  his  creaturehood,  will  be  uplifted  to  com- 
panionship with,  not  mere  servitude  under.  Him,  "Who 
sitteth  upon  the  throne  of  the  Universe. 

Modem  Thought  is  familiar  with  an  old  question, 
which  should  be  considered  now,  although  it  may  lead 
US  through  some  difficult  metaphysical  reasonings,  or 
rather  tentations. 

"  If  the  humanity  of  Jesus  was  not  a  human  personal- 
ity, what  was  it "  ? 


208      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

The  question  is  undoubtedly  a  profound  one,  and  can 
be  answered,  if  at  all,  only  at  its  own  depth.  It  involves 
the  old  scholastic  dispute  about  "Universals."  Ai-e  uni- 
versals  real  or  ai-e  they  only  names  ?  Tree,  animal,  man 
are  universals.  We  do  not  mean  by  them  any  particular 
tree,  nor  any  individual  animal,  nor  any  person-man.  If 
— it  is  argued — they  are  names  only,  then  all  particulars 
belonging  to  them  are  also  names  only,  and  so  the  objec- 
tive universe  dissolves  away.  If — it  is  again  argued- — they 
are  realities,  then  they  must  have  existence  apart  from 
their  specific  manifestations,  since  all  trees,  animals  and 
men  are  only  numerable,  measurable  and  agglomerated 
singles,  not  universals.  There  is  an  intermediate  alterna- 
tive, which,  denying  both  their  reality  and  nominality, 
asserts  that  universals  are  concepts  only  of  him  who 
thinks  them,  be  he  God,  angel,  demon  or  man.  This  is 
a  little  more  tangible  than  mere  nominalism,  but  it  is 
only  after  all  a  kind  of  idealism. 

Suppose  we  reply  to  these  argumentations,  that  it  is 
not  practicable  to  assign  the  universals  to  either  of  these 
disputed  regions,  alone  ;  but  that  they  all  have  some 
place  for  one  or  another  of  the  aspects  of  the  universals. 
They  are  real,  and  yet  not  specific.  Tliey  are  nominal, 
yet  not  alone  nominal.  They  are  concepts,  and  yet  there 
is  a  reality  in  them  on  which  the  concept  reposes,  as 
effect  on  cause. 

The  Universal  of  Man  is  humanity.  In  Adam  it  prim- 
arily existed,  with  all  those  undeveloped  potentialities, 
out  of  which  came  Eve  first  and  then  the  whole  human 
race,  in  ever  increasing  number,  and  ever  repeating  per- 
sonality. Adam  was  therefore  once  Universal  Man,  hu- 
manity. Has  Adam  ceased  to  be  -what  he  once  was? 
Bid  he  lose  in  obtaining  Eve,  and  in  begetting  sons  and 
daughters?    Poes  the  flame  of  a  candle  grow  less,  by 


THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  209 

lighting  other  candles  ?  In  both  cases  the  lighting,  or 
vivifying  capacity,  simply  goes  forth,  to  take  up  and  use 
by  assimilation  other  particles  of  matter.  The  new  flame 
is  not  individually  the  old  flame,  so  also  the  son  is  not 
the  father  ;  but  neither  could  be  without  the  other. 
The  material  light  is  not  immortal.  The  one  flame  there- 
fore comes  after  the  other ;  but,  when  either  has  con- 
sumed its  fuel,  it  ceases  and  its  relations  cease.  But 
the  characteristic  of  immortality  belongs  to  humanity. 
Adam  and  the  last  babe  born  live  together;  here  or 
there,  within  the  embracing  circle  of  one  common  im- 
mortality. Humanity  comprises  all  human  creatures  ; 
but  it  shows  nothing  human  beyond  what  existed  germ- 
inally,  essentially,  potentially  in  Adam.  Adam  was  a 
person.  Every  one  born  of  human  parents  is  a  person. 
Every  one's  personality  is  his  own  and  not  another's. 
Adam's  personality  was,  is,  and  ever  will  remain,  his  own' 
exclusively.  Adam  did  not  transmit  his  personality  to 
his  sons  and  daughters.  They  had  each  their  own.  He 
did  however  transmit  humanity  to  all  the  race,  and  this 
transmission  diminished  naught  of  his  own  full  com- 
pleteness of  humanity. 

The  same  power,  that  made  the  "  first  Adam,"  could 
surely  make  a  "last  Adam  "  ;  and  so  graft  humanity  into 
him,  that  he  might  become,  both  naturally  and  super- 
naturally,  its  second  Adam.  Naturally  he  might  become 
a  new  root,  which  should  circulate  life  forward  towards 
new  growth  and  backward  through  the  currents  of  the 
old,  still  living,  capillaries  of  stems  and  branches  even  to 
the  one  primal  root.  Many  natural  analogies  confirm 
this  possibility.  It  is  not  a  difficult  fact  to  apprehend. 
It  is  possible  and  therefore  may  be  true.  It  is  to  be 
proved,  however,  before  accepted. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  science  of  human  nature,  to 


210  THE    CREED   AND   MODEEN   THOtJGHT. 

tlirow  doubt  upon  the  uptaking,  into  His  Divine  person, 
by  Jesus,  of  the  universal,  or  integral  essence  of  humanity. 
There  is  no  more  difficulty  with  this  universal,  than  with 
any  other.  We  must  receive  them,  think  them  and  act 
upon  them.  Science  does  so,  and  must  necessarily  do  so 
daily  in  every  direction.  We  do  no  more.  Practically 
there  is  no  difficulty.  As  a  subject  however  it  includes  us, 
and  not  we  the  subject.  As  an  object  it  comprises  and 
enfolds  us,  not  we  it.  It  is  another  instance  wherein  we 
apprehend,  use,  and  practically  work  out  what  in  its 
completeness  we  cannot  comprehend,  nor  therefore  de- 
fine. 

The  evidence  of  the  last  Adamhood  of  Jesus  has  been 
already  gone  over.  It  need  not  be  repeated  here.  One 
thought  perhaps  will  be  in  place,  and  that  the  practical 
one  ;  viz. :  that  the  fulness  of  the  Humanity  of  Jesus  is  the 
assurance,  to  every  man  of  good-will,  not  only  that  he 
will  not  be  overlooked  in  the  salvation  wrought,  but  that 
not  one  of  his  works  well  done  shall  perish,  not  one  good 
thought  be  void,  not  one  capacity  fail  of  its  fruition,  nor 
one  power  die.  The  Gon-manhood  assures  the  com- 
pletest  perfection  of  every  human  creature,  who  wills  to 
accept  His  Lordship,  or  does  not  wilfully  frustrate  His 
grace.  His  humanity  is  complete  and  perfect.  All  that 
the  first  Adam  bestowed  upon  the  race,  was  essentially 
taken  by  the  last  Adam.  The  union  of  this  nature  with 
the  Divine  nature — without  mingling  or  confusion  of 
substance,  in,  with,  or  under  the  one  personality  of  the 
Divine  Son — assures,  to  every  partaker  of  that  nature,  all 
the  good  that  can  be  possibly,  i.e.,  consistently,  done  to 
him  personally,  both  now  and  evermore. 

This  Divine-human  union  would  operate  like  a  natural 
cause,  if  man's  great  freedom  did  not  interpose.  That 
great  freedom,  however,  so  far  from  being  an  impedi- 


THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  211- 

ment  in  "  men  of  good  will,"  becomes  a  means  of  en- 
lai'gement.  It  does  not  however  supersede  the  natural 
operation  of  the  Incarnation.  They  go  on  together. 
The  Incarnation,  operating  like  a  natural  cause,  brings 
every  good  that  man  can  enjoy  out  of  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead,  and  lays  it  down  before  his  human  body,  soul, 
and  sj)irit.  All  man's  conscious,  subconscious,  and  un- 
conscious capacities  may  be  filled  full ;  and  would  be 
filled  full,  had  God  chosen  to  make  man  merely  an  or- 
ganism, or  a  machine,  or  even  a  slave.  The  freedom  of 
choice  insures  the  indefeasible  right,  together  with  the 
consequent  responsibility,  of  accepting  or  refusing  the 
personal  lordship  of  Jesus  over  our  persons.  We  exer- 
cise it,  and  take  the  consequences.  This  however  does 
not  impede  the  natural  operation  of  the  Incarnation. 
The  light  and  life,  that  flow  from  it  into  universal  hu- 
manity, are  only  perverted  in  and  by  the  unwilling  men. 
To  willing  men,  it  is  still  the  channel  for  constant  inflow 
of  all  good  to  the  whole  and  every  part,  in  this  life,  and 
in  that  which  is  to  come.  To  unwilling  men  it  also 
comes,  but,  not  being  accepted  by  them,  its  very  coming 
is  turned  by  them  into  discord  within,  and  injury  with- 
out. 

The  Incarnation  is  not  therefore  a  dogma,  merely  for 
the  mind  to  grasp  ;  nor  even  a  tender  contemplation  only 
for  the  heai-t  to  feed  upon  ;  it  is  all  these  but  it  is  even 
more :  it  is  the  fact  and  assurance  of  personal  commu- 
nion, between  "  the  last  Adam,"  and  all  who  do  not  use 
their  freedom  in  refusing  or  neglecting  His  grace.  This 
communion,  or  union  together,  between  Jesus  and  His 
willing  beloved,  is  the  one  practical  fact,  that  surpasses 
all  other  possibilities  of  human  satisfaction.  The  per- 
son, of  every  willing  friend  of  Jesus,  feels  interested  in 
the  whole  of- that  share  or  portion  of  humanity,  in  which 


212      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

his  iDersonality  dwells.  Communion  with  Jesus  is  the 
means,  by  which  every  constituent  of  his  nature  gets  all 
it  can  enjoy  or  use,  as  well  as  the  assurance  that  this  de- 
tailed fulness  shall  continue  forever. 

The  efiects  of  sin  in  ^  men,  and  of  confusion  in  the 
world,  are  not  yet  definitely  and  fully  brought  before  us. 
They  will  come  up  thus  hereafter.  Now,  only  the  i)osi- 
tive  teaching  of  the  Creed,  respecting  the  Incarnation,  ia 
directly  in  view  ;  and  it  is  safe,  as  well  as  instructive,  to 
view  it  positively.  Thus  we  are  free  to  contemplate  the 
Incarnation,  as  if  it  were  operating  in  all  the  fulness  of 
its  power,  and  with  all  its  channels  open.  The  picture, 
we  thus  get,  is  only  a  foretaste  and  prophecy  of  what 
will  be,  when  the  school-time  of  man's  training  shall 
have  ended.  Then,  self-will  being  willing  to  subject 
self  to  Him  "Who  is  love,  no  impediment  will  remain  to 
the  perfect  inflow  of  all  good  into  all  men  of  good  will, 
its  complete  circulation  through  all  their  complex,  im- 
mortal, human  nature ;  together  with  that  response  of 
cheerful  devotion,  which  shall  be  acceptable  worship  to 
Him,  Who  became  man,  that  mankind  might  become 
partakers  of  the  Divine  nature. 

At  the  risk  of  some  repetition,  it  may  be  well  here  to 
answer  specifically  the  question,  'What  is  the  Divine 
human  personality  of  Jesus  ? ' 

As  the  Creed  implies,  and  all  catholic  definitions  ex- 
plain, this  personality  is  Divine.  His  two  natures  be- 
long to  it,  retaining  each  its  specific  naturality,  its  own 
essence  in  full  j)otentiality  and  manifestation.  His  per- 
sonality is  therefore  something  distinct,  in  idea,  from 
either  nature. 

ideas,  it  will  be  noticed  and  confessed,  are  concepts  of 
the  human  understanding.  They  must  however  have 
some  corresponding  reaUty,  in  order  to  hold  position 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      213 

among  matters  of  fact,  and  become  sure  grounds  for  safe 
induction.  The  personality  must  be  something,  there- 
fore, distinguishable  from  the  nature,  or  natures.  A 
short  cut  across  the  difficulty,  would  be  to  call  the  per- 
sonality one  entity,  and  the  two  natures,  each  one  an- 
other entity.  Then  we  should  have  a  threefold  compo- 
nent, one  wholly  human,  another  wholly  Divine,  and  an- 
other something  neither  human  nor  Divine,  but  includ- 
ing both.  Thus  stated  the  absurd  proposition  appears, 
that  the  personality  of  Jesus  is  not  only  super-human, 
but  super-divine.  The  reality  of  the  idea — as  will  be 
presently  shown — is  not  lost,  even  though  it  be  not  a 
real  separate  entity. 

Again,  if  the  personahty  be  placed  within  the  Divine 
nature  then  it  will  be  less  than  divine,  since  that  con- 
tained must  be  less  than  that  containing.  Here  again 
we  fall  upon  an  absurdity  ;  unless  indeed  we  adopt  the 
old  Oriental  and  late  German  philosophy  of  the  "  Un- 
conscious." If  we  adopt  it,  then  the  ultima-thule  of  all 
thought,  all  existence,  all  being,  and  aU  becoming,  God, 
would  be  the  dimly  conceivable,  centre-circumference, 
inactive,  universal.  Unconscious,  One — All.  Out  of  this 
may  come  all  will,  intellect,  consciousness;  and,  when 
concentrated  in  an  individual,  that  individual  would  be- 
come a  person.  In  that  view  personality  is  only  a  fortu- 
itous, fleeting  speck,  thrown  off  hke  a  sparkling  drop 
from  a  crested  wave,  to  be  again  absorbed  in  the  great, 
dark  ocean  of  nothingness,  or  its  equivalent  indefinable 
unconsciousness. 

Now  the  answer  to  this  new-old  philosophy  is  the  great 
fact,  on  which  all  human  philosophies  beat  and  have  beaten 
in  vain,  viz. :  the  first  word -letter  of  the  Creed  "  I ".  Per- 
sonality— the  Ego,  the  "  I " — is  the  very  primary  ground 
of  all  knowledge,  and  of  all   thought.     Consciousness 


214      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

of  it,  as  has  been  already  amply  shown,  is  not  complex 
but  single.  It  includes  all  constituents  and  relations  of 
person,  but  is  itself  a  single,  unmixed,  definite  though 
indefinable  unit.  As  the  human  person  gathers  into  its 
unit  of  consciousness  innumerable,  constitutive  organs, 
functions,  and  faculties,  but  is  itself  neither  multiplied 
nor  divided  ;  so  the  Divine  person  holds  in  Himself  all 
that  belongs  to  the  Divine  nature.  As  the  human  per- 
son is  humanity,  concrete  and  individual,  yet  possessing 
all  that  is  essentially  human  ;  so  also  the  Divine  person 
is  very  God.  Essential  humanity  is  in  with  and  under 
the  conscious,  subconscious,  and  even  unconscious  "I"  ; 
but  as  was  shown,  between  the  first  Adam  and  Eve  and 
their  posterity,  it  is  the  nature  only  which  is  transmitted. 
The  person  of  each  individual  human  creature  is  his  own 
and  not  another's.  This  is  all  that  we  can  possibly  know 
of  personality,  because  to  know  more  w^ould  requu-e  a 
person  knowing,  i.e.  a  person  beneath  person,  and  this 
interminably. 

"What  we  know  of  human  personality  we  can  easily 
transfer,  in  apprehension,  to  the  Divine  nature  ;  and  thus 
obtain  the  conception  of  One  Divine  person  "  in  Whom 
dwells  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  "  ;  and,  WTio,  tak- 
ing essential  humanity  into  Himself,  so  invests  that 
humanity  with  His  Divine  person,  that  His  unit-con- 
scious I  includes  both  natures  completely,  so  that  He  is 
not  a  god  and  a  man,  but  One  Godman. 

His  humanity  was  not  created  anew,  but  was  received 
of  the  substance  of  His  mother.  All  nations  call  her 
Blessed.  She  conceived  and  gave  birth  to  the  Godman. 
What  she  gave  was  His  humanity  ;  but  this  humanity, 
taken  in  her,  was  conjoined  to  the  person  of  the  Sou  of 
God  at  its  inception.  The  union  continued  through  the 
process  of  birth.     Jesus,  in  the  fulness  of  His  Divine 


THE   CREED    AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  215 

humanity,  was  bom  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  All  these 
steps  belong  to  the  essential  perfectness  of  the  Incarna- 
tion. His  assent,  as  the  ever  preserving  Word  of  God, 
was  of  course  given  ;  but  the  vivifying,  conceiving 
power  was  put  forth  by  Him,  in  whose  department  it 
fell,  the  Holy  Ghost,  "  the  Lord  and  giver  of  life.  "  Thus 
the  Incarnation  is  seen  to  be  in  harmony,  with  all 
Divine  acts  of  Creation  and  Providence. 

The  Creed,  like  the  Bible,  is  silent  upon  all  details 
respecting  the  blessedness,  which  was  assured  to  the 
person  of  Mary. 

There  are  however  certain  points,  that  arise  first  in 
the  philosophy  of  human  nature,  but  have  been  thence 
transferred  to  theology,  which  ought  perhaps  to  be  con- 
sidered, in  a  review  of  the  Creed  in  connection  with 
Modern  Thougjjt,  Though  not  of  modern  origin,  there 
is  now  a  large  and  varied  school  of  theologians,  who, 
"  philosophizing  "  upon  the  need  of  humanity  for  a  femi- 
nine element  in  the  object  of  Supreme  devotion,  have, 
some  suggested,  some  excused,  and  some  authoritatively 
enjoined  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

As  the  theological  system,  which  goes  farthest  in  this 
direction,  includes  all  that  is  essential  in  lesser  systems, 
as  weU  as  all  that  belongs  to  those  floating,  nebulous  ideas 
tliat  hang  around  the  orbits  of  other  systems ;  it  will 
suffice  to  consider  that  alone.  Modern  Thought  has  of 
course  no  status,  before  a  tribunal  that  claims  infalli- 
bility ;  but  the  worship  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  taught  in 
the  Roman  Church,  is,  on  its  philosophical  side,  fairly 
amenable  to  human  knowledge  and  judgment.  Modern 
Thought  therefore  has  a  right  to  ask,  at  this  point  of  con- 
tact with  the  Creed,  what  the  truth  is  about  the  need  of 
humanity  for  a  feminine  element  in  the  object  of  Supreme 
devotion. 


216      THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

In  order  to  meet  this  question  fully,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  anticipate  some  parts  of  the  Creed.  The  needful 
assumptions,  however,  will  only  be  for  the  object  in  view. 
Proof  will  follow  in  due  order. 

The  cultus  of  dulia — a  kind  of  lower  form  of  worship 
— which  the  churches  and  persons  under  the  Roman 
obedience  offer  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  although  some- 
times practically  trenching  upon  the  limits  of  latria — the 
worshii)  due  only  to  God — ,  does  not  necessarily  amount 
to  that  idolatry.  The  principle  of  mediation,  found  in 
all  religions,  is  fully  accepted  and  required  in  Christian- 
ity. It  culminates  in  the  one,  full  and  perfect  mediation 
of  the  God  man  ;  and  becomes  effective  through  His  one, 
"full  perfect  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation  and  satis- 
faction for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world."  The  true  and 
trustworthy  Mediator  can  only  be  the  .one  time  High 
Priest,  Wlio  alone  makes  the  sufficient  propitiation  in  the 
one  effective  sacrifice  ;  and  Whose  presentation  of  that 
sacrifice,  continually  before  The  Father,  forms  the  links 
of  restoration  through  which  jTardon  reaches  the  sinner, 
and  the  sinner  himself  offers  prayer  and  praise. 

Every  work  of  Christ  has  its  types  and  memorials. 
Men  are  priests  under  Him.  Some  are  priests  for  others. 
All  are  in  some  sense  priests  for  themselves.  Every 
priestly  act  becomes  effective,  not  directly  towards  and 
fi'om  the  Father,  but  tlirough  the  One  High  Priest. 
Mediation  is  only  thus  effective. 

Even  a  perfectly  sinless,  merely  human,  person  cannot 
approach  unto,  and  therefore  may  not  directly  address 
the  Father,  because  his  human  nature  is  not  yet,  and  may 
not  become  naturally,  in  itself,  sufficiently  exalted  to 
enter  even  into  the  communion  of  spirits,  much  less  into 
communion  with  the  Father  of  spirits.  *'  God  is  a 
spirit  ■',  and  though  we  should  "  worship  Him  in  spirit," 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      217 

yet  our  human  spirits  are  conjoined,  in  one  humanity, 
with  soul  and  body.  Spiritual  worship  therefore,  though 
grounded  in  that  pai-t  of  us  wherein  our  godUkeness 
centres,  must  command  the  cooperation  of  every  essen- 
tial constituent  of  our  personal  being.  Worshipping  God 
in  spirit,  we  must  worship  Him  also  in  truth,  i.e.  unre- 
servedly, in  all  we  are,  and  with  aU  we  have,  including 
both  soul  and  body  also. 

It  is  evident  that  on  earth,  during  mortal  life,  our 
threefold  human  complexity  of  person  is  prevented  from 
ascending  locally  to  the  spmt-presence  of  God.  Were 
we  sinless  we  should  still  need  help,  through  which  to 
approach  God.  As  creatures  we  could  not  make  a  way 
to  Him.  He  only  can  furnish  the  way.  We  are  not 
distinctly  told,  at  least  in  the  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, that  Adam  conversed  with  The  Word  of  God,  The 
Creator  of  the  world  ;  but  we  gather  this  fact  from  com- 
paring the  Old  with  the  New  Eevelation.  That  central 
perfection  of  the  Deity,  distinctively  called  God,  Who  is 
neither  begotten  nor  proceeding,  manifests  Himself  to 
aU  creatures  through  His  Son,  the  Logos,  the  Creator 
and  Presei-ver  Of  the  Universe.  They  who  are  made  by 
either  creation  or  birth,  are  made  thus  by  the  Second 
Person  in  the  adorable  Trinity.  He  is  the  primary  and 
perpetual  link  between  them  and  the  central  Godhead. 
The  Father  comes  to  them  through  Him.  They  can 
only  reach  the  Father  through  Him.  Eevelation  clearly 
states  this  fact ;  and  human  philosophy  constantly  man- 
ifests its  necessity  as  a  ground  for  all  knowledge,  and  a 
sure  basis  for  any  possible  science  of  being  or  *'becom- 
ing.» 

All  this  would  be  equally  true  had  men  been  made 
spirits  only  ;  for  essentially  the  very  same  creative  oper- 
ation would  have  brought  them  into  being.  Hence  dead 
10 


218      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

saints,  whatever  beatific,  dreaming  vision  they  may  now 
enjoy,  are  yet  with  God  in  and  through  Christ.  Even 
the  Blessed  Virgin  therefore,  being  in  all  respects  hu- 
man, cannot  overstep  the  bounds  of  humanity  :  she  also 
must  know  the  Father  and  approach  Him  through  the 
one  hnk  of  communication,  between  Creator  and  created. 
Supposing  her  sinless,  the  distance  would  not  be  de- 
stroyed. She  would  still  be,  naturally,  infinitely  far  off 
from  the  Infinite  One  God.  Under  no  circumstances 
therefore  can  she  supersede,  or  even  share  the  mediation 
of  the  one  Godman. 

Nor  can  that  lower  stand  of  mediation,  which  puts  her 
between  the  sinner  and  her  Divine,  human  son,  be  as- 
signed to  her.  It  is  universaUy  conceded  that  the  writ- 
ten Scriptures,  do  not  unmistakably  give  to  her,  or  even 
mention  such  place.  It  may  however  fairly  be  inquired 
whether  reason  can  point  out  any  intermediate  place  be- 
tween man  and  Jesus.  If  it  can  be  shown  that  there  is 
a  point,  where  the  Saviour  does  not  touch  man  ;  if  any 
one  of  mankind's  constituent  parts  is  unreached  by 
Jesus  ;  if  any  human  capacity  of  thought,  sentiment  or 
feeling  is  not  filled  by  the  Godman,  then  He  would  not 
be  wholly  The  Saviour  :  there  would  be  room  for  co-re- 
demption, and  co-mediation. 

Not  Boman  theologians  alone  but  others  also  have 
taken  this  very  position.  Indeed  the  Roman  church  it- 
self is  surely  committed  to  this  kind  of  worship  of  the 
Virgin.  It  is  at  least  responsible,  for  teaching  that  the 
Blessed  Virgin  mediates  between  the  sinner  and  Jesus. 
If  it  does  this,  by  virtue  of  its  claim  to  infallibility,  then 
argument  is  forefended.  Whoever  accepts  that  position 
can  reason  no  longer.  If  God's  voice  is  still  audible 
through  a  human  authority,  nothing  is  left  to  man  but 
to  listen,  hear,  believe,  and  act. 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      219 

Tlie  reasonings  however  of  Roman  theologians,  and 
others,  remain  for  criticism.  They  must  stand,  upon 
their  strength  and  legitimacy ;  or  fall,  if  shown  to  be 
neither  strong  nor  legitimate.  The  key  to  the  whole 
Roman  and  romanizing  argument  in  favour  of  the  cultus 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  is  contained  in  the  follovTing  sen- 
tence, taken  from  the  closing  portion  of  "  S.  Baring- 
Gould's  Polytheism  and  Monotheism,"  "A religious  sys- 
tem which  would  provide  man  with  a  model,  and  leave 
woman  destitute  of  one,  is  imperfect  and  inadequate  to 
supply  the  wants  of  human  nature."  Fault  is  not  found 
with  this  position,  taken  as  an  abstract  proposition.  The 
error  lies  in  the  conclusion  that  is  drawn  from  a  false 
premise.  The  false  premise  is  that  Jesus  is  a  man,  and 
therefore  does  not  reach  to  the  deepest  depth  of  that 
possibly  inferior  but  certainly  essential  part  of  human- 
ity, wherein  the  sentiments  are  rooted.  As  Jesus  is  not 
merely  man  ;  so  also  in  no  accurate  sense  is  He  a  man. 
His  personaHty  is  Divine  not  human,  and  His  humanity 
is  complete,  not  masculine  only  but  masculine  and  femi- 
nine both.  As  the  first  man  Adam  was  created  with  the 
feminine  in  him  and  not  separated  until  after  Eve  was 
made  out  of  part  of  him,  so  the  last  Adam  was  entirely 
and  completely  human.  Even  prophecy  foretold  this 
very  duality  of  His  human  constitution,  when,  adum- 
brating His  office  as  the  true  shepherd,  it  named  Him 
both  "  Beauty  and  Bands." 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  adhere  tenaciously,  to 
the  fact  of  the  fulness  and  wholeness  of  the  humanity  of 
Jesus.  It  is  on  His  human  side  that  He  touches  and 
draws  us.  Not  merely  as  sinners,  seeking  the  benefits  of 
propitiation,  do  we  need  a  perfect  man ;  but  as  human 
creatures,  whose  salvation  may  hang  on  any  link  of  our 
natures,  or  rather  germinally  centre  in  any  part  of  our 


220      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOFGHT. 

nature,  we  need  one,  perfect  and  complete  human  per- 
son, who  "  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are." 
Heb.  IV.  15. 

We  as  yet  only  know  the  two  great  classes,  into  which 
mankind  is  divided,  by  their  manifestation  as  men  and 
women.  The  unity  of  this  duality,  as  it  was  in  the  first 
Adam,  and  must  also  necessarily  be,  and  have  been,  in 
the  second  Adam,  may  be  a  fair  subject  of  inquiry ;  but 
it  does  not  necessarily  demand  consideration  here.  The 
only  point  of  importance,  in  setting  forth  the  complete- 
ness and  perfectness  of  The  Saviour  of  mankind,  is  the 
fulness  of  the  humanity  taken  up  into,  and  preserved  in 
union  with,  His  Divine  personality.  From  this  we  know 
that  the  love  which  is  of  His  Divine  essence,  because  it 
is  perfect  love,  is  at  once  outgoing  and  responsive,  bene- 
volent and  yearning,  giving  fully  and  freely,  and  accept- 
ing nay  naturally  reqiiiring  fulness  of  response,  i.e.  mas- 
culine in  all  that  is  strong  and  self-expressive,  and  fem- 
inine in  all  that  is  tender  and  responsive. 

The  fall  perfection,  and  detailed  completeness,  of  the 
humanity  of  Jesus  leaves  no  room  for  a  co-redemptress  ; 
while  the  closeness  of  His  exclusive  sonship  unto  the 
Father  leaves  no  room  for  co-mediation.  Under  Him, 
as  parts  of  Him  in  the  unity  of  "  His  One  Body,"  there 
is  room  for  the  communion  of  the  saints,  and  for  its 
manifestation  in  countless  ways  ;  but  all  the  holy  ones  of 
every  degree,  in  that  they  are  human  only  and  entirely, 
stand  together  on  one  ground.  They  are  saved  only 
thro'  Him.  "  No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by 
Me."    S.Jn.  XIV.  6. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      221 


"  Suffered  unbtv  JJontittH  pUate,  was  tvuti^tb  '* ; 
"  ^nlr  was  rrucificlr  also  for  xxs  unber  })on-' 
tm0  JJilate." 

His  human  nature  brouglit  the  Godman  personally 
within  the  scope  of  fallen  man's  allotment,  and  made 
Him,  by  and  through  His  body,  soul  and  spirit,  share  the 
human  mortal's  essential  condition  and  inevitable  destiny. 
Not  the  individual  Adam  only,  but  concrete  man  incurred 
the  fall.  The  germ  of  humanity  became  tainted  and  dis- 
eased by  sin  ;  "  wherefore  as  by  one  man  the  sin  entered 
into  the  world,  and  because  of  the  sin  the  death,  so  also 
into  all  men  the  sin  permeated,  in  whom  all  sinned." 
Rom.  V.  12.  The  human  unit-nature  fell,  and  every  out- 
growth of  that  unit-nature  partook  of  its  condition,  and 
entered  into  its  mortal  destiny,  with  all  natural  conse- 
quences. The  subconscious  spring  of  life  was  poisoned. 
The  whole  race  was  estranged  fi*om  God. 

Restoration  of  man  to  the  favor  of  God  demands  two 
works,  or  rather  two  parts  of  one  work.  Man  must  be 
renewed  and  converted.  The  renewal  belongs  to  the 
sub-conscious  hfe,  and  therefore  can  be  effected  only  by 
the  grace  of  God.  "  But  where  the  sin  abounded,  the 
grace  did  superabound."  Rom.  V.  20.  The  conversion 
involves  manly  exercise  of  free  choice,  with  the  vigorous 
exertion  of  free  will ;  and  therefore  must  be  elected  and 
continued  by  every  individual  human  creature,  who  would 
be  saved  :  "  for  every  man  shaU  bear  his  own  burden." 


222      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Gal.  VI.  5.  Thus  the  two-foldness,  of  all  operative  hu- 
man Kfe,  characterizes  every  individual  man.  He  cannot 
escape  either  the  disorder  of  the  condemnation,  conse- 
quent upon  the  fall ;  nor  can  he  be  holden  of  them,  un- 
willingly, without  violation  of  his  original  godlikeness. 
Had  developing  mankind  been  left  alone,  crushed  under 
the  natural  consequences  of  the  fall,  the  justice  of  God 
would  not  have  been  vindicated.  Sin  corrupted  but  did 
not  absolutely  ruin  man.  Every  one,  born  into  tlie 
world,  was  still  like  God.  He  felt  this  likeness  in  the 
consciousness  of  freedom.  Hence  he  could  not  be  a  mere 
subject  of  necessity,  nor  consequently  responsible  for 
anything  he  could  not  help.  Divine  justice  therefore  it- 
self involved  mercy  ;  or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  God, 
in  the  perfectness  of  His  essential  love,  while  He  would 
not  enslave  the  creatures,  made  in  His  likeness,  by  en- 
forced innocence,  could  not  leave  any  one  of  them  under 
the  mere  force  of  unelected  and  irresistible  eviL 

Though  it  would  be  foolishness  to  ascribe  prevenient 
necessity  to  God,  and  blasphemous  to  say  that  He  could 
not  do  any  possibiHty  :  it  is  neither  sin  nor  folly  to 
assert,  "  that  God  cannot  lie."  Tit.  I.  2.  The  conscious- 
ness of  the  necessity  to  true  manliness  of  freewill — i.e.  lib- 
erty of  choice  within  creature  limits — clings  still  to  man, 
tho'  he  be  corrupt  and  under  condemnation.  This  is 
evidence  of  yet  unruined  godlikeness,  and  assurance  that 
justice  requires  mercy.  It  is  therefore  proof,  from  prim- 
ary probability,  that  the  true  God  has  devised  and  does 
open  a  way  of  restoration,  reconcilation  and  salvation. 

Into  humanity,  standing  thus  over  against  God,  the 
Only  Begotten  Son  descends.  He  becomes  one  of  us, 
possesses  every  essentially  human  characteristic,  shares 
our  present  lot,  and  is  man  both  now  and  forever.  If 
He  had  come  with  resistless,  healing  force,  He  would 


I 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      223 

have  ruined  our  manliness  in  saving  our  persons.  If 
He  had  only  averted  sin's  penalty,  He  would  have 
grouped  a  thankless  or  sullen  crowd,  of  pardoned  but 
unrenewed,  and  consequently  impenitent  and  unwilling 
servants,  around  His  Father's  throne. 

Hence  the  consistency  of  God's  own  character,  His 
truthfulness  assured  a  mode  of  salvation  by  which  God- 
like man  could  be  restored  in  his  freedom.  The  fall  and 
its  consequences  could  not  go  on  forever  ;  but  for  a  time 
remedial  forces  might  be  permitted.  So  long  as  the  will- 
ing were  found,  the  way  might  be  opened  and  kept  open. 
Even  this  however  involved  the  necessity  of  conditions, 
agreeable  to  both  God's  consistency,  and  man's  dignity. 

Now  he,  who  had  stepped  out  of  The  Way,  must  will- 
ingly come  back  into  The  Way.  However  far  he  had 
wandered,  the  returning  journey  was  unavoidable.  Toil, 
and  pain  and  suffering  are  the  inevitable  lot  of  retui'n- 
ing  wanderers.  No  proof  is  needed  of  sin's  wanderings. 
All  Hfe  on  earth  manifests  them.  Every  man's  experi- 
ence is  full  of  them. 

Jesus  stood  with  us,  and  shared  our  groping,  but  He 
shared  it  as  a  shepherd  seeks,  that  he  may  restore,  the 
lost.  He  became  involved  however  in  our  condition. 
He  was  more  than  a  shepherd,  who  could  only  guide  or 
lead.  He  was  a  sharer  of  our  lot,  that  He  might  not 
only  turn  our  footsteps  aright,  but  also — by  His  man- 
hood, and  with  His  Divinity — enter  into  us,  and  dwell 
with  us,  and  renew  our  corrupted  life,  making  us  inward- 
ly reconciled  to  God  as  weU  as  outwardly  restored  to  His 
favor. 

Having  entered  discordant  human  nature.  He  felt  the 
effect  of  this  discordance.  His  very  perfectness  aggrava- 
ted this  effect.  Hence  suffering  fell  upon  Him,  not 
merely  for  our  example,  but  from  the  necessity  of  the 


224:  THE    CKEED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

condition  into  which  all  humanity  had  fallen  :  He  be- 
came like  us  in  all  respects  ;  the  guiltiness  of  sin — that 
being  always  a  personal  matter — only  exce^oted.  Sin, 
original  and  actual,  He  was  personally  free  from  ;  though 
He  entered  under  its  consequences.  Tliese  involved 
suffering  in  many  forms  with  many  varieties  of  effect, 
influence  and  import.  Incidentally,  His  sufferings  are 
examples  ;  and  most  glorious  ones,  by  copying  after 
which  men  become  noble  heroes  or  glorious  martyrs. 
Moreover,  in  following  the  walk  and  words  of  the  historio 
Jesus,  men  everywhere  in  all  ages  may  return  towards, 
tho'  not  thus  into,  that  communion  with  God  which  the 
first  Adam  lost,  when  he  believed  the  serpent  and  doubt- 
ed the  True  One  and  the  Just. 

Example  and  precept  however  are  not  enough  for  fall- 
en man.  The  godlike  creature  in  falling  had  lost  tho 
true  life.  He  became  involved  in  death,  not  the  second 
death  out  of  which  there  is  no  resurrection,  but  a  death 
which  consumed  his  innocence,  and  left  him  unable  of 
himself  to  return  to  and  walk  with  God.  However  the 
remnants  of  the  sinless  life  glittered  like  broken  gems  in 
his  liaK  conscious  memory,  and  however  the  deep  of  his 
nature  might  say  "I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the 
inward  man,"  Eom.  VII.  22,  he  felt  also  compelled  to 
add,  "  But  I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring 
against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  cap- 
tivity to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members.'*     23. 

From  this  point,  the  free  men  under  God  take  devious 
ways.  The  fearful,  the  rebellious,  the  foolish  and  the 
self  indulgent  use  their  God  given  liberty,  in  doing 
wrong  or  leaving  undone  the  right.  God,  Who  did  not 
make  them  machines,  wiU  not  break  them  in  pieces,  nor 
indeed  ruin  them  with  slavery,  and  therefore  leaves  them 
to  their  choice.     The  lost  may  wish  they  had  been  en- 


THE   CBEED   AND  MODERN   THOUGHT.  225 

slaved,  but  no  true  man  tHnks  that  heaven  could  be  his 
home,  if  he  dwelt  there  under  enforced  subjection  to  an- 
other's mere  wiU. 

Thus  Jesus  found  us  when  He  became  man.  We 
needed  such  renewal  at  the  root  of  human  nature,  in 
every  person's  subconscious  life,  that  we  might  have  our 
eyes  opened  to  discern  the  light  of  God  :  and  His  incar- 
nation brought  that  to  all  humanity.  "In  Him  was 
life  ;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men."  "That  was  the 
true  light  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world,"  S.  Jn.  I.  4,  9.  We  needed  also  to  "  be  renewed 
in  the  spirit  of  our  mind,"  Eph.  IV.  23,  "  and  to  "  put 
on  the  new  man  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after 
the  image  of  Him  that  created  him,"  Col.  HI.  10  ;  and 
this  Christ  brought,  and  only  could  bring,  to  those  will- 
ing to  come  to  Him,  and  to  take  up  his  cross  and  follow 
Him.     S.  Mark  VHI.  34. 

The  complete  humanity  of  CnBist,  both  in  essence  and 
condition — involving  suffering  both  from  human  neces- 
sity, Heb.  V.  8,  and  for  our  example,  1  S.  Pet.  H.  21 — 
was  manifested  in  His  sinless,  suffering,  mortal  existence, 
and  in  His  innocent  death :  "  For  it  became  Him  for 
Whom  are  all  things,  and  by  Whom  are  all  things,  in 
bringing  many  sons  unto  glory  to  make  the  captain  of 
their  salvation  perfect  through  suffering.  For  both  He 
that  sanctifieth  and  they  who  are  sanctified  are  all  of  one  : 
for  which  cause  He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren, 
saying  I  will  declare  Thy  name  unto  My  brethren,  in  the 
midst  of  the  chui'ch  will  I  sing  praise  unto  Thee."  Heb. 
n.  10-12.  Ps.  XXH. 

The  mode  of  the  death  of  Jesus,  and  the  person  under 
whom  the  sentence  was  executed,  are  matters  of  mere 
history.     They  stand  however  not  only  like  other  historic 
10* 


226  THE   CKEED   AND   MODERN   TIIOUaHT. 

facts,  upon  evidence  satisfactory  to  criticism,  and  in  fact 
unquestioned  ;  but  they  share  in  that  certainty,  which  is 
proved  and  manifested  by  the  consentient  testimony  of  a 
visible  body  ;  prominent  in  every  age  from  that  day  to 
this  ;  now  as  then  bearing  one  witness,  and  which  could 
have  come  into  existence  only  with  and  through  the  fact 
to  which  it  testifies.  This  historic  fact  has  many  associated 
points  of  fact  and  teaching,  which  students  of  prophecy, 
and  of  human  nature,  may  delight  in  ;  but  their  consid- 
eration here  would  lead  somewhat  aside  from  our  direct 
line  of  investigation.  They  serve  us  however  by  show- 
ing the  intense  reality  of  Cheist's  manhood  ;  confirming 
also  the  actuality  of  His  life  and  death  among  us,  and  as 
one  of  us. 

It  is  extremely  important  however  that  the  great  dis- 
cussions that  centre  around  Jesus  should  not  cause  us  to 
leave  unnoticed,  nor  to  pass  without  due  consideration, 
the  plainer  and  more  simply  historical  facts  of  His  mor- 
tal sufferings  and  death.  The  whole  of  the  truth  about 
Him  assimilates  with,  is  built  into  and  constituted  by 
every  part.  The  outward  fact  of  His  death,  under  Pon- 
tius Pilate,  stands  in  the  "  Symbol  of  Faith,"  as  one  of 
the  most  easily  assailable  facts ;  which,  if  overthrown, 
would  make  a  breach  in  the  whole  structure  and  cause 
Christianity  to  topple ;  but  which,  standing  as  it  has 
through  the  ages  and  as  it  yet  does,  shows  that  Jesus  was 
not  a  myth,  not  a  deceiver,  not  a  mere  enthusiast,  and 
above  all  not  a  witling  ;  but  One,  Who  knew  Himself, 
knew  the  work  He  had  to  do  and  endured  whatever 
His  mission  required  openly,  simply,  unostentatiously, 
bravely,  and  in  every  great  and  httle  detail  effectually. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT.      227 


As  historic  facts,  these  are  unquestioned  and  unques- 
tionable. There  have  been  many  gratuitous  assertions 
about  them,  drawn  not  from  evidence  but  from  precon- 
ceived opinions  or  mere  fancy  ;  but  that  His  body  was  a 
phantom,  or  that  the  whole  story  is  a  myth,  or  that  He 
was  in  a  mere  trance,  or  that  He  had  only  a  human  ap- 
pearance, or  anything  inconsistent  with  the  complete- 
ness and  reality  of  His  man's  nature,  in  and  thro'  which 
He  died  and  was  buried,  are  simply  unsupported  by 
proof  and  insupportable.  The  evidence  is  all  for  the 
facts,  as  recorded  in  history,  for  the  reahty  of  the  tran- 
saction, and  for  the  complete  humanity  of  the  person. 
Moreover,  as  has  been  already  amply  shown,  mankind 
cannot  afford  to  lose  any  shred  out  of  the  completeness 
wherein  the  Son  of  God  becomes  one  of  us  ;  for  by  that 
completeness  we,  not  only  through  but  in  Him,  may  at- 
tain unto  the  restoration  of  that  companionship  with 
God,  wherein  alone  man  can  become  harmonious  within, 
as  well  as  now  and  evermore  peaceful  amid  all  surround- 
ings known  or  conceivable. 

Who  died  and  was  buried  ? 

Not  the  personal  man  Jesus,  for  He  neither  was  nor  is, 
in  person,  a  man. 

Not  the  nature  of  the  Only  Begotten  Son,  for  the  Di- 
vine nature  is  incapable  of  suffering,  death  and  buiiaL 


228      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGnT. 

Yet  some  person  died  and  was  buried,  or  the  wliole 
transaction  becomes  meaningless,  or  worse.  This  person 
must  hold  God  by  one  hand,  and  with  the  other  reach 
and  embrace  mankind  :  othenvise,  whatever  the  sacrifice, 
the  reunion  of  man  with  God  remains  unaccomplished. 

As  already  seen,  there  was  only  One  person  Jesus,  and 
He  Divine.  This  Divine  personality  however,  in  taking 
human  nature  into  Himself,  took  also  all  its  essence  and 
entered  into  its  conditions.  Hence  the  Son  of  God, 
being  also  the  Son  of  man,  suffered  in  His  humanity, 
died  and  was  buried.  The  dying  Christ  therefore,  and 
indeed  the  dead  Christ  is  inseparable  fi'om  the  Son  of 
God.  This  is  a  difficult  fact  to  grasp,  but  only  difficult 
not  impossible.  It  lies  outside  the  analogies  of  human 
experience  ;  but  within  the  powers  of  human  apprehen- 
sion. It  is  mysterious,  but  only  more  mysterious  than 
our  own  conscious  union  of  material  and  spiritual  sub- 
stance, within  the  compass  of  our  own  persons.  It  is  no 
objection  to  a  fact,  that  we  cannot  comprehend  its  ful- 
ness. Taking  this  fact  as  presented  to  us,  we  view,  now 
the  Divinity  of  our  Saviour  driving  out  fear  from  us, 
and  now  His  humanity  reaching  unto  us,  entering  us, 
filling  us,  and  making  us  one  with  Him  to  bring  us  unto 
God.  Neither  can  we  spare  His  humanity,  nor  dispense 
with  His  divinity.  Everywhere  they  join  each  other, 
and  reach  us.  If  He  were,  now  a  man  and  then  God,  as 
the  contingencies  of  life  and  death  came  round,  we  could 
not  be  sure  that,  in  every  contingency.  He  would  remain 
at  hand,  able  to  save.  But,  being  ever  the  Godman, 
through  life  and  in  death,  we  may  trust  Him  confidently 
now  and  evermore. 

The  death  of  the  Son  of  God  in  human  nature  has  a  bear- 
ing on  God,  and  a  significance  towards  God  ;  which  are 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHtJ      229 

subjects  of  revelation.  Man  cannot  discover  this  bear- 
ing and  significance,  because  he  cannot  penetrate  and  see 
between  God  and  Christ.  Nor  can  man  reason  satisfac- 
torily about  them,  because  he  is  incapable  of  compre- 
hending God.  Fulness  of  Divine  knowledge  and  under- 
standing are  requisite  in  Him,  Who  perceives  and  appre- 
ciates the  bearing  of  the  death  of  the  Godman  on  of- 
fended Divine  justice,  or  its  significance  towards  Divine 
mercy  and  truth.  Every  attempt  ever  made  by  man  to 
comprehend  God,  has  only  resulted  in  a  distorted  image. 
One  quahty  or  attribute  has  been  rdagnified,  while  others 
were  diminished  ignored  or  displaced.  Mercy  has  been 
exalted  against  truth,  or  righteousness  made  incompati- 
ble with  peace ;  and  parties,  following  only  one  view, 
have  made  Him  to  appear  now  a  weakling  Whose  pitiful- 
ness  destroyed  manly  dignity  and  human  consistency, 
and  now  a  stem  and  relentless  avenger.  Both  have 
failed  to  describe  God,  as  He  is  ;  not  because  either  was 
altogether  mistaken,  but  because  the  capacity  of  man  is 
unable  to  comprehend  how  "  mercy  and  truth  are  met 
together ;  righteousness  and  peace  have  kissed  each 
other."    Ps.  LXXXV.  10. 

Hence  any  theory — whether  positive  or  negative — of 
the  atonemement,  based  upon  a  necessity  in,  or  towards 
God,  as  it  must  be  defective  in  argument  from  want  of 
the  major  premise,  cannot  be  justly  imposed  on  man's 
faith. 

Divine  revelation  can  be  our  only  source  of  knowledge 
of  the  bearing  of  Christ's  death  on  God,  and  of  its  sig- 
nificance towards  God.  The  Bible  contains  God's  word 
of  condemnation  against  sinners.  It  declares  all  men 
condemned  by  inheritance,  and  although  the  inherited 
condemnation  is  done  away  for  aU  men,  1  Cor.  XV.  21- 
22,  by  the  Incarnation ;  yet  that  inalienable  human  liberty 


230  THE   CBEED   AND   MODERN   THOTJGHTr 

remains  intact.  Hence  "  every  one  of  us  shall  give  ac- 
count of  himseK  to  God,"  Eom.  XIV.  12,  God's  ways 
are  equal;  "the  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shaU  die."     Ezk. 

xvm. 

All  through  scripture  God's  anger  against  sin  is  de- 
clared, but  His  mercy  is  equally  set  forth.  His  mercy, 
however,  with  its  consequence,  His  grace,  is  beneficial, 
according  to  the  penitence  of  behevers  as  manifested  by 
their  deeds  of  obedience  with  works  of  righteousness. 
Nor  is  this  aU.  Sacrifice  has  been  always  accepted. 
Whether  appointed  or  not  from  the  very  first,  it  was  cer- 
tainly appointed  by  God  under  His  earhest  written  reve- 
lation. This  sacrifice  included  self-denial,  even  to  the  ex- 
tent of  self-consecration,  and  sometimes  of  martyrdom  ; 
but,  distinct  from  and  in  addition  to  this,  visible  vic- 
tims in  continual  succession  have  been  offered  in  sacri- 
fice to  God,  as  propitiations  for  sin. 

Although  perhaps  wearisome,  it  may  be  well  here 
ag£dn  to  repeat,  that  an  objection  to  propitiatory  sacrifice 
cannot  stand  upon  any  conceptions  man  may  form  of 
God.  It  is  vain  to  argue  that  propitiation  is  unnecessary, 
because  it  introduces  a  machinery  to  do  what  infinite 
mercy  could  just  as  well  effect,  directly  and  without  in- 
tervention. The  answer  is,  that  we  know  no  more  about 
infinite  mercy  than  we  do  about  infinite  justice,  and 
therefore  have  only  to  take  what  is  revealed  about  them 
or  touching  them. 

Herein  mankind  undergoes  essentially  the  same  trial 
that  Adam  had  in  Eden.  He  could  not  see,  why  one 
tree  should  be  forbidden  ;  but  as  God  made  the  declara- 
tion, he  should  have  believed  and  obeyed.  Nor  can  we 
now  understand  the  essential  positive  efficacy  of  sacrifice  ; 
but  our  duty  is  to  beheve,  and  obey.  Nor  is  this  an 
abandonment  of  manliness.     We  ai-e  called  to  the  obedi- 


THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  231 

ence  of  sacrifice,  in  faith  not  perforce.  Faith,  through 
patience,  leads  to  hope  that  God,  Whom  we  thus  will- 
ingly confide  in,  will  in  and  thro'  this  His  chosen  means 
restore  us  to  that  communion,  wherein  we  may  walk 
openly  and  lovingly  with  Him,  in  sonship  and  friendship 
forever. 

Eeverting  to  The  Book,  we  find  it  full  of  doctrine  and 
narrative  about  visible  sacrifice.  In  this  it  accords  with 
all  the  rehgions  in  all  the  world.  Sincerity  of  heart  and 
mind  are  equally  enjoined,  and  indeed,  when  the  one  is 
contrasted  with  the  other,  shown  to  be  more  acceptable 
than  sacrifice ;  but  they  never  supersede  each  other. 
The  more  sincere  the  worshipper,  the  more  is  he  required 
to  join  in  the  sacrifice. 

Under  the  "  Old  Dispensation,"  sacrifice  had  at  least 
three  distinct  characteristics. 

1.  It  was  an  offering  to  God,  as  propitiation  for  the 
sins  of  the  iDeoj^le. 

2.  It  was  a  memorial  before  God,,  in  sight  of  the  peo- 
ple, of  His  covenant. 

3.  It  was  a  feast  from  the  Lord's  table-altar,  in  which 
the  worshippers  ate  both  singly  and  as  communicants, 
in  token  of  allegiance  on  man's  part,  and  as  means  of 
grace  from  Him  in  Whom  all  power  and  goodness  dwell. 

These  points  are  amply  set  forth  in  and  through  the 
Old  Testament.  As  critical  controversy  is  not  now  in 
view,  it  is  fair  to  assume  them  for  present  argument. 
We  are  now  looking  at  the  bearing  of  propitiatory  sacri- 
fice, as  a  doctrine  upon  Modern  Thought,  and  as  a  reality 
upon  essential  manliness.  It  only  concerns  us,  at  present, 
to  see  how  the  doctrine  may  now  be  received,  and  how 
the  fact  may  save  and  develop  manhness. 

Previously  however  to   direct   reentrance  upon   our 


232      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

theme,  we  may  call  to  mind  the  obvious  fact  that  the 
sacrifices  of  the  Jews  were  evidently  all  types,  and  that 
in  the  New  Testament  the  antitype  appears  in  "The 
Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world," 
S.  Jn.  I.  29  ;  "  The  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world."     Rev.  XIH.  8. 

When  by  direct,  critical  study  of  the  Word  of  God  it 
appears,  that  "  CmiisT  Jesus  Whom  God  hath  set  forth  a 
propitiation,"  Eom.  ITT.  25,  "is  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins :  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  whole  world," 
S.  Jn.  n.  2,  then  Modern  Thought  has  no  vahd  objection 
to  make  against  it  either  as  doctrine  or  fact.  It  rests  on 
its  own  evidence.  It  must  stand  as  that  evidence  is 
strongly  based,  and  consecutively  build ed  together.  Not 
as  a  mere,  arbitrary  dogma  is  this  point  forced  upon  us  J 
nor  as  a  mysterious  and  cold  fact,  is  it  presented  ;  but  it 
is  rather  set  forth,  distinctly  and  firmly  indeed  but  in 
mercy  and  tenderness  also,  for  it  is  written  ;  "Herein  is 
love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  He  loved  us,  and 
sent  His  Son,  the  propitiation  for  our  sins."  IV.  10. 
"  God  commendeth  His  love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we 
were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us.  Much  more  then, 
being  justified  by  His  blood,  we  shall  be  saved  from 
wrath  through  Him."  Rom.  V.  8-9.  Returning  now  to 
purely  philosophical  ground  we  remember  that  man, 
though  incapable  of  perceiving,  or  of  satisfactorily  argu- 
ing about  the  atonement  as  it  is  on  its  Divine  side,  or 
towards  God  ;  and  though  he  must  therefore  receive  rev- 
elation, as  final,  about  it ;  yet  he  may  both  perceive,  and 
argue  about  it,  on  its  side  towards  humanity. 

As  both  the  least  and  largest  observation  show  man- 
kind to  be  in  a  state  of  disorder,  and  conflict ;  so  the 
common  consciousness  agrees  in  acknowledging  that, 
both  within  and  without,  eYerj  individual  human  person 


THE  OEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      233 

is  in  disorder,  and  conflict.  Moreover  conscience  puts 
us  in  the  wrong,  while  nature  yearns  sorrowfully  and 
impotently  after  the  right,  and  the  true.  Manliness 
bravely  struggles,  but  no  mere  presentation  of  goodness, 
or  fitness,  or  beauty,  or  righteousness  avail  either  to  quiet 
conscience,  or  cure  disorder.  It  is  therefore  more  than 
useless,  it  is  a  mockery  to  such  creatures  as  we  are,  in 
the  condition  we  find  ourselves,  amid  the  stem  and  strong 
necessities  that  surround  and  p6netrate  us,  to  hold  up 
the  good  and  the  great,  and  bid  us  strive  for  their  attain- 
ment. We  cannot  attain.  Though  perceiving  and  ac- 
knowledging them,  we  know  and  feel  that  they  lie  beyond 
us  :  and  yet  we  must  reach  them,  or  we  cannot  become 
in  fact,  what  we  know  we  should  be,  and  feel  that  we 
might  become,  "  perfect  men." 

God  explains — i.e.  makes  clear,  according  to  sound 
philosophy — this  confusion  and  disorder.  He  enlightens 
conscience.  He  tells  us  that  "  we  have  all  sinned  and 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,"  Kom.  HI.  23  ;  "  there 
is  no  man  that  sinneth  not,"  1  Kgs.  VHI.  46.  Come 
short  of  the  glory  of  God  ;  not  wholly  lost  or  obliterated 
the  glorious  image  of  God,  in  which  we  were  originally 
created ! 

Thus  we  stand  in  presence  of  the  crucified  Godman. 
"  Dead  in  trespasses  and  sin,"  Eph.  H.  1 ;  dead  thro' 
the  law  ;  dead  by  inheritance  from  our  first  father  who 
died  by  sin,  guilty  by  personal  transgressions  ;  and,  not 
having  life  in  ourselves,  incapable  therefore  of  raising 
ourselves  again  "into  newness  of  life,"  Rom.  VI.  4. 
Yet  we  are  conscious  that  we  may  be  restored  to  true 
life.  Directly  or  indirectly,  willingly  or  unwillingly,  by 
sincere  confession  or  bootless  blasphemy,  we  all  show 
that  our  glorious,  godlike  manhood,  has,  if  not  inno- 
cence, at  least  the  germs  of  renovation.     AU  we  need 


234      THE  CKEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

therefore  is  "the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,"  S.  Jn. 
XIV.  6  ;  the  way,  wherein  we  may  "walk  out  of  dai'k- 
ness ; "  the  truth,  whereby  we  may  attain  knowledge  inter- 
nal and  external ;  and  the  life,  whereby,  revitalized,  we 
may  put  forth  our  manliness  in  growing  up  towards 
God. 

While  therefore  we  may  be  only  able  to  apprehend 
God's  anger,  and  can  only  know  what  He  tells  us  about 
the  atonement  of  the  death  of  Christ,  as  it  touches  Him- 
self ;  we  can  see,  on  the  human  side,  its  adaptation  to  the 
essence  and  general  characteristics  of  humanity.  Of- 
fenders as  we  are  against  God,  we  yet  cannot  with  true 
manliness  cringingly  ask  merely  for  pardon.  Shame 
deters  us  now,  nor  would  the  prospect  of  heaven  enjoyed 
upon  sufferance  attract  us.  To  be  in  full  what  we  feel 
we  might  be,  and  know  we  should  be,  requires  that  some 
compensation  should  be  offered  to  God,  so  that  we  might 
enter  into  an  everlasting  covenant  with  Him.  This  is  a 
necessity  on  our  side.  It  may  or  may  not  be  the  same 
on  God's  side  ;  or  rather  we  cannot  argue  about  it,  as 
we  have  before  shevm,  on  that  side  ;  we  can  only  be 
told  by  Him. 

-  While  however  manliness  demands  the  offer  of  com- 
pensation from  us  to  God,  we  neither  know  enough  to 
design  it,  nor  could  we  construct  it  we  are  sure  because 
we  cannot  even  do  the  good  that  we  would. 

Now  death,  germinal  in  sinning  Adam,  has  become 
death  universal  in  all  his  posterity.  It  is  nothing  against 
our  argument,  that  death  is  natural,  and  that  Adam  and 
all  his  posterity  were  from  the  first  subject  to  natural 
death.  The  "  tree  of  life  in  the  midst  of  the  garden," 
Gen.  n.  9.  HI.  22,  was  his  '  sacrament  of  immortality ' : 
God  had  provided  its  fi'uit  for  Adam's  food  :  to  be  taken 
doubtless  by  mankind,  when  needed  in  order  that  hu- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      235 

manity  might  escape  death,  -until  the  fulness  of  time 
should  come,  wherein  the  Incarnation  might  exalt  the 
innocent,  serving  creatui*e  into  the  high  lot  of  a  friend 
of  God,  being  made  partaker  of  the  Divine  nature.  Sin 
shut  up  the  way  to  the  "  Tree  of  Life,"  and  the  natural 
death  of  Adam  was  no  less  a  penalty,  because  it  became 
the  thenceforth  imobstructed  result  of  a  law,  which,  in 
common  with  all  creatures,  he  was  naturally  under. 

The  Son  of  God,  in  becoming  the  Son  of  man,  came 
under  the  law  of  natural  death.  But  His  coming  to 
earth  was  voluntary  ;  and  moreover,  even  after  He  be- 
came man,  He  retained  power  over  his  own  mortal  life  : 
*'For  as  the  Fatheb  hath  life  in  Himself ;  so  hath  He 
given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  Himself  ;  .  .  .  .  because 
He  is  the  Son  of  man."  S.  Jn.  V.  26-27.  He  was  in 
Himself  "  the  Tree  of  Life  " ;  immortal  by  self-support. 
The  death  of  Jesus,  though  natural,  like  that  of  Adam, 
was  yet  voluntary.  The  perverse  will  of  the  first  Adam 
left  us  all  to  natural  death ;  and  incurred  for  us  all 
spii'itual  death,  whereby  we  are  shut  out  from  God,  and 
rendered  naturally  incapable  of  struggling  back  to  Him  : 
but  the  loving  and  obedient  will  of  the  second  Adam 
endiu-ed  the  cross,  to  recover  the  loss,  and  repair  the 
damage  of  the  fall.  The  effect  of  His  obedience  reached 
at  least  as  far  as  that  of  the  first  disobedience  ;  "  where 
sin  abounded  grace  did  much  more  abound."  Rom.  V. 
20. 

Confining  our  view  for  a  time  to  subconsciousness,  we 
perceive  that  the  spring  of  life,  poisoned  in  Adam,  be- 
comes healed  in  Christ.  The  voluntary  endurance  of 
the  death  penalty,  by  the  innocent  second  Adam,  is  a 
compensation  at  least  equal  to  the  original  transgression. 
Again  we  repeat ;  it  was  not  as  far  as  we  can  compre- 
hend a  compensation  to  God  ;  it  was  a  compensation  as 


236      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

we  see  it,  because  it  was  equal  on  the  human  side.  As 
far  as  we  can  primarily  know,  God  may  or  may  not  ac- 
cept or  refuse  this  compensation.  His  acceptance  of  it  is 
therefore  evidence  of  His  "loving  kindness  and  tender 
mercy." 

We  can  lift  up  our  heads  to  God  without  shame,  when 
we  can  go  before  Him,  bearing  the  memorial  ofthe  Sec- 
ond Adam  to  lay  over  against  the  first  Adam's  transgres- 
sion and  its  consequences.  Manhood  has  at  least  ef- 
fected a  ransom.  In  accordance  with  the  great  world- 
wide law  of  compensation,  and  perhaps  in  its  fulfilment, 
we  can  offer  an  equivalent  for  the  great  transgression. 
Natural  death  of  the  body,  and  natural  death  in  tres- 
passes and  sins,  as  far  as  they  affect  the  judicial  standing 
of  mankind,  both  collectively  and  individually,  are  expi- 
ated ;  and,  as  far  as  they  affect  the  subconscious  spring 
and  fountain  of  all  human  life  and  of  every  man's  own 
life,  are  counteracted. 

Thus,  "  the  sacrifice  of  the  death  of  Cheist  "  is  more 
than  an  objective  equivalent,  as  man  sees  it,  offered  by 
man  unto  God.  In  a  certain  sense,  indeed,  it  stands  out 
between  us  and  God.  It  has  its  objective  uses,  as  an 
offering  of  ransom  by  which  we  are  redeemed,  and  of 
propitiation  by  which  our  sin's  penalty  is  averted.  All 
this  belongs  to  our  external  relations  with  God  ;  and 
rests  chiefly  upon  revelation.  It  however  agrees  with 
the  great,  and  probably  universal,  "law  of  compensation," 
and  is  also  accordant  with  our  common  human  estimate 
of  natural  justice,  and  mercy.  But  there  is  a  deeper 
significance  still.  An  individual  man- saviour,  standing 
between  us  and  God,  is  not  the  perfect  Jesus  we  are 
taught  to  believe  in  ;  nor  the  one  demanded  by  sound 
human  philosoj)hy.  We .  are  assured  rather  that  our 
Saviour  is  humanity  germinally;    that   His  manhood 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      237 

reaches  unto  every  man,  and  that  the  work  He  has  done 
— propitiation  included — is  effective  for  and  through  all 
mankind.  As  in  the  deep  or  spring,  of  subconscious 
vitality,  we  naturally  inherit  existence,  characteristics, 
conditions,  and  consequences,  from  the  first  Adam  ;  so 
mutatis  mutandis  we  receive  life  through  the  quickening 
spmt  of  the  last,  Adam,  1  Cor.  XV.  45,  and  become  par- 
takers of  His  life,  sharers  in  His  works,  and  inheritors 
together  with  Him. 

While  therefore  the  single,  central  and  in  itself  com- 
plete, "  oblation  and  satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world,  once  offered,"  is  made  on  Calvary  by  the  Son  of 
God  in  and  through  His  human  nature ;  and  while  no 
human  person,  as  such,  can  claim  active  share  or  part  in 
that  single  act  of  personal  sacrifice :  yet,  as  shoots  and 
branches  of  the  humanity  then  and  thus  employed,  every 
man  may  claim  so  much  of  what  was  effected,  as  to  make 
the  propitiation  his  own  offering  ;  not  only  by  pleading 
it  memorially,  but  by  partaking  of  it  personally.  It  may 
be  in  us,  as  well  as  outside  of  us. 

Again  we  must  revert  to  the  inahenable  right,  dignity 
and  necessity  of  manly  freedom.  Even  the  restoration, 
made  possible  by  the  redemption,  cannot  be  forced  upon 
us.  The  pardon  is  secured  for  all.  The  ransom  is  paid 
for  all.  The  revivification  reaches  into  the  subconscious 
fountain  of  every  individual  human  creatui-e's  life  :  but 
every  one  who  grows  up  to  conscious  morality,  who  at- 
tains the  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  is  left  free  yet  to 
choose  Whom  he  will  serve,  and  will  be  judged  doubt- 
less according  to  his  light.  They,  to  whom  Christianity 
is  offered,  will  be  every  one  affected  in  the  deep  of  his 
subconscious  personaUty,  as  every  other  human  being 
is  ;  and  yet  will  be  left  free  to  choose  his  Lord,  and  will 
also  be  judged  according  to  his  light 


238      THE  CEEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT. 

Wliile  therefore  everything  possible  is  done  for  us  by 
the  Godman — suffering,  crucified,  dead  and  buried — and 
while  we  are  gloriously,  tho'  mysteriously,  made  sharers 
in  His  sacrifice  ;  we  do  not  trench  upon  His  own, 
unique,  personal  self-offering,  nor  does  He  invade  our 
freedom.  Tho',  conscious  of  sin,  we  bow  penitently  be- 
fore God  ;  and,  knowing  our  incompetence  for  self-resto- 
ration, cling  to  the  quickening  last  Adam  ;  and,  confes- 
sing that  we  have  nothing  to  offer,  plead  His  voluntary 
sacrifice  of  Himself :  yet  it  is  the  new  Adam — not  a  mere 
man — on  Whom  we  rely,  and  in  Whom  and  with  Whom 
we  approach  unto  the  Father.  "No  man  cometh  unto 
the  Fathek,  but  by  Me,"  S.  Jn.  XTV.  6. 

This  being  true,  the  doctrine  of  "  the  sacrifice  of  the 
death  of  Christ,"  stands  out  to  Modem  Thought,  not  as 
a  mere  dogma  to  be  forced  upon  minds  enslaved,  but  as 
a  fact,  at  least  not  derogatory  to  any  one's  manhness. 
Admitting  merely  that  man  is  finite,  there  is  no  shame 
in  the  help  of  The  Infinite :  while  the  acknowledgment 
of  sin  and  sorrow  involves  the  confession — by  all  except 
"the  fool"  who  "hath  said  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God," 
Ps.  TiTTI.  1. — of  the  need  of  Divine  help.  When  this 
help  comes  to  us  not  from  another  mere  man,  but  from 
The  Son  of  God,  the  one  Godman ;  and  when  in  giving 
it  The  Son  does  not  inflict  it  as  a  mere  boon,  but  works 
it  out  for  us  in  our  own  very  nature,  and  develops  it  with 
our  own  cooperation  ;  then,  not  only  the  deep  complete- 
ness of  the  work  is  assured,  but  the  greatness  and  glory 
of  it  fills  and  satisfies  the  conscious  dignity  of  our  in- 
alienable godlikeness. 

Surely  in  this  particular  also,  the  Creed  vindicates  it- 
self, shows  its  vitaUty  now  as  ever,  and  approves  itself 


THE   CEEED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 


239 


the  formula  of  truth  most  honorable  to  man.  So  far 
from  being  a  clog  of  tradition,  binding  living  souls  to 
the  dead  past,  it  now,  as  in  all  ages,  speaks  to  men  as 
godlike ;  and  shows  them  how  to  return  to  God,  that 
they  may  enjoy  without  bound  and  exert  without  limit — 
within  creaturehood — their  likeness  to  God. 

If  the  virtues,  that  spring  from  their  specific  truths, 
were  under  discussion,  it  might  be  apposite  here  to  dwell 
upon  humility.  Doubtless  that  wide  spread,  and  almost 
passionate  love  of  liberty,  which  distinguishes  Modern 
Thought,  is  not  naturallj^  prolific  of  humility.  It  is  true 
that  "  pride  goeth  before  a  fall."  There  is  however  an 
equally  true  and  equally  dangerous,  "voluntary  hu-' 
mihty."  Neither  presumption  nor  shame  arises  from 
"  reaching  forth  unto  those  things  which  are  before  "  : 
but  the  folly  and  fault  of  pride  comes  when  "  we  boast 
of  things  without  our  measure." 


240      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 


''  Qe  Ire0CtiiklJ  into  ^dV* 

This  article  was  not  formulated  in  the  primitive  Creed. 
Its  history  is  fully  treated  by  Bishop  Pearson.  Here, 
only  its  intrinsic  truth,  and  practical  importance  will 
be  considered. 

The  nature  and  characteristics  of  spirit,  its  position  in 
'  the  person,  and  its  relations  in  man  to  body  and  soul, 
demand  consideration  from  both  philosophical  and  theo- 
logical points  of  view.  They  are  subjects  which  Modem 
Thought  is  evidently  occupied  with,  but  has  not  deeply 
penetrated  philosophically  ;  while  theologically  they  are 
less  deeply  studied,  by  far,  than  in  patristic,  or  even 
mediaeval  times.  The  distinguishing  intellectual  vice  of 
modern  times,  not  only  in  America  but  abroad,  which 
like  all  prevalent  vices  is  only  a  distorted  or  misdirected 
virtue,  prevails  against  modest  self  distrust,  that  best 
keeper  of  the  door  of  the  soul  through  which  truth  en- 
ters. Modern  Thought  will,  and  should  investigate  with- 
out timidity ;  but  the  fear,  which  brave  hearts  always 
feel  when  treading  difficult  or  dangerous  ways,  should 
never  be  absent  from  a  mind  occupied  with  searching 
into  the  essence,  and  observing  the  manifestations  of 
spirit. 

The  Positivists  ignore  spirit  altogether.  "With  char- 
acteristic self-contradiction,  they  say  that  we  have  no 
data  on  which  to  form  an  opinion  of  spirit,  and  not  even 
the  power  of  conceiving  of  spirit  as  an  entity,  and  real- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      241 

ity.  They  do  not  appear  to  see  that  they  express  the 
conception,  in  the  very  form  of  the  denial ;  for  no  man 
can  deny  that,  of  which  he  has  no  conception.  Modern 
Thought  has  learned,  from  the  Positivists,  that  easy  and 
common  trick,  of  affecting  to  despise  what  one  chooser 
to  ignore. 

Honest  and  brave  thinkers,  now  as  ever,  cannot  be  sup- 
pressed. While  honouring  humble  fear,  they  scorn 
timidity.  Spirit  is  something.  Modern  Thought  may  and 
should  search  deeply,  and  enquire  diligently,  what,  and 
where  that  something  is. 

Spirit  is  evidently  not  material,  for  it  cannot,  as  the 
Positivists  weU  say,  be  discovered  nor  analyzed  by  any 
of  the  tests  of  matter.  Even  the  invariable  characteris- 
tics of  matter,  such  as  persistence  of  weight  and  impene- 
trability, as  well  as  divisibility  and  composite  change- 
ableness,  cannot  be  affirmed  of  spirit,  and  therefore  is 
denied  by  most  philosophers.  It  is  commonly  affirmed, 
by  philosophers  who  accept  spirit  as  reality,  that  it  is  es- 
sentially one,  i.e.  an  individual,  indivisible,  and  of  course 
immaterial  unit  This,  if  put  in  another  form,  would 
perhaps  not  be  objectionable.  What  spirit  is  in  itself  we 
cannot  know,  because  it  indwells  and  perhaps  is  the  root 
or  beginning  of  the  human  consciousness  of  person. 
This  however  does  not  prevent  our  recognizing  it  as  a 
reality,  and  knowing  its  manifestations  in  both  our- 
selves and  others.  We  may  come  very  near  the  philoso- 
phers, but  nearer  still  to  the  truth,  when  we  say  not 
that  spirit  is  a  unit ;  but  that  our  most  satisfactory  con- 
ception, and  clearest  idea  of  it,  supposes  its  unity.  For 
all  practical  purposes  of  investigation  we  hold  to  the 
primary,  and  ever  continuing  indivisible  unity  of  spirit. 

Soul  is  not  spirit.     Attributes  of  soul  such  as  intelli- 
gence or  affection,  which  characterize  it  in  both  man 
11 


242      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

and  animals,  render  it  capable  of  union  and  communion 
with  spirit ;  while  its  sensibility  renders  it  capable  of 
union  and  communion  with  body.  Yet  soul  is  evi- 
dently not  endowed  with  certain  lofty  foi-ms  of  intelli- 
gence, by  which,  not  only  abstract  conceptions  are 
formed,  moral  principles  perceived,  and  boundless  scope 
apprehended,  but  even  The  Infinite  One,  Pantocrat, 
Father  Almighty,  God  Himself  is  known.  Nor  again 
has  soul  that  lofty  form  of  affection,  which  looks  through 
the  enactments  of  law  ;  seeing  in  them  not  merely  com- 
mands that  must  be  obeyed,  but  the  necessary  order 
and  organization  of  love,  the  one  great  harmonizer,  and 
only  sweet  reconciler  of  cause  and  consequence,  Creator 
and  creation,  God  and  godlike  man. 

Body  is  not  spirit.  Its  senses  and  its  appetites  turn 
primarily  towards  matter,  and  seek  material  gratification. 
In  mere  bodies,  like  the.  vegetables,  appetite  stands  high- 
est; vegetables  best  fulfil  the  end  of  their  being,  when 
most  freely  taking  and  using  all  the  matter  they  can  as- 
similate. Animals,  the  next  higher  in  bodily  order,  pos- 
sess features  of  soul  which,  while  not  depriving  them  of 
material  appetites,  open  a  broader  scope  of  mortal  life. 
They  have  spheres  of  various  kinds  to  fill,  that  material 
growth  and  nourishment  subserve,  but  thereby  become 
secondary  and  subordinate  objects  of  life.  Even  wild 
animals,  that  always  disappear  with  the  wilderness,  do 
not  hve  solely  for  grow^th  and  propagation.  They  roam, 
and  explore,  and  devise,  and  execute,  and  strive,  and  dis- 
play many  qualities  of  intelligence  and  affection,  and  use 
sense  and  appetite  as  servants  for  things  higher.  Ani- 
mals in  civilization  are  put  to  many  uses,  that  require  the 
exertion  of  soul-faculties,  and  powers.  It  cannot  bo 
doubted  also  that  a  perception  of  individuality  belongs 
to  animals.     They  distinguish  themselves  one  from  an- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      243 

other,  and  show  both  selfishness  and  consideration  in  in- 
tercourse with  man  and  other  animals. 

Soul,  like  spirit,  is  not  susceptible  of  material  tests.  It 
cannot  be  proved  to  be  even  a  function  of  matter.  Many 
such  attempts  have  been  made ;  but,  at  every  crucial 
point,  it  may  just  as  well  be  said  that  the  soul  prompts 
the  movement  of  matter,  as  that  the  movement  evolves 
the  soul-action.  The  crucible  will  not  furnish  a  resi- 
duum "  bead "  of  soul.  The  utmost  resources  of  the 
laboratory  cannot  precipitate  it.  The  knife  cannot  di- 
vide and  exhibit  it.  The  microscope  can  neither  see  it 
quiescent  nor  in  operation.  Surely  it  is  reasonable,  as 
it  is  undoubtedly  accordant  with  the  common  opinion  of 
mankind,  to  regard  soul  as  another  thing  than  matter ; 
something  belonging  to  a  distinct,  and  separate  order, 
and  condition  of  things.  There  may  be  a  soul  substance  ; 
and  hke  matter  it  may  be  imperishable  i.e.  capable  of 
endless  combinations  and  changes  of  form,  but  not  of 
annihilation.  This  cannot  indeed  yet  be  proved  scienti- 
fically. Neither  can  it  be  disproved.  We  are  left  there- 
fore to  probability,  and  should  be  bound  by  its  laws. 
"We  cannot  for  instance  arbitrarily  take  position,  and  say 
according  to  impulse  or  the  exigency  of  argument,  that 
we  either  accept  or  reject  the  idea  of  a  soul-substance  in 
the  universe,  of  which  individual  souls  take  part,  as  bod- 
ies do  of  matter.  Whoever  accepts  the  high  probability 
of  the  existence  of  a  soul-substance  in  the  universe,  will 
find  it  accordant  with  the  analogies  of  knowledge.  He 
will  also  find  it  reconcilable  with  whatever  distinctive  con- 
ceptions may  be  formed,  and  followed  out  variously, 
through  all  known  existences,  from  man  down  to  the 
least  microscopic  organite. 

If  it  be  allowed  that  animals  have  souls,  as  well  as 
bodies,  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that  their  individu- 


244:      THE  CEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

ality  is  preserved  in  immortality.  Soul  functions,  like 
material  particles,  may,  for  aught  we  know,  come 
together  once  in  one  form,  and  then  divide  to  pass  ever 
after  through  varying  combinations.  By  thus  setting 
soul  and  body,  in  idea,  apart  from  each  other,  we  can 
compare  them  one  with  the  other,  and  attain  reciprocally 
clearer  conceptions  of  both.  Practically  indeed  they  are 
so  associated  in  life,  that  the  lines  between  are  as  imper- 
ceptible, as  the  divisions  of  the  spectrum  are  to  the  natu- 
ral eye  ;  and  will  probably  remain  so,  until  at  least  a 
psychical  spectroscope  shall  have  been  invented,  which 
may  exliibit  their  specific  lines. 

Man  is  evidently  possessed  of  both  body  and  soul. 
He  is  fellow  on  his  material  side  with  the  tuber,  and  par- 
taker of  the  dust.  In  soul  he  may  be  not  only  like  but 
one  with  the  animals.  He  partakes  with  them  of  both 
the  matter  and  soul-substance  of  the  universe.  He  now 
dwells  amid,  and  cannot  be  ordinarily  exempt  from 
natural,  material  and  psychical  laws.  The  great  consist- 
ency, running  through  nature,  which  men  call  Law,  has 
its  material  and  psychical  operations,  which  may  be 
studied  by  the  intellect  alone,  and  acted  upon  confidently 
within  their  scope. 

Man  however  is  superior  to  all  other  mortal,  and  earthly, 
known  forms  of  existence  ;  in  that  he  has  a  constituent 
that  is  neither  body  nor  soul,  but  something  higher 
than  either,  though  coexistent  and  even  conjoined  with 
both. 

This  superior  portion  of  humanity  is  named  Spirit,  and 
has  distinct  functions  and  attributes.  One  of  its  func- 
tions is  conscience,  which  cognizes  right  and  wrong.  It 
is  a  universal  function  ;  i.e.  it  pervades  all  humanity  and 
penetrates  all  human  relations.  Some  indeed  among 
modem  thinkers  attempt  to  express  the  idea  of  right  and 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      245 

wrong,  as  if  it  were  a  residuum  of  human  experience. 
They  say  that  one  course  has  been  found  upon  the  whole 
most  satisfactory  to  all  men,  and  its  opposite  unsatis- 
factoiy  or  unprofitable,  so  that  what  upon  the  whole  is 
advantageous  is  called  right  and  its  opposite  wrong ;  and 
that  out  of  this  has  grown,  through  the  accumulations  of 
the  experience  of  ages,  conscience.  Verily  there  is  no 
credulity  to  match  that  of  sceptical  minds  ;  and  no  argu- 
ment weak  enough  to  be  without  advocates  !  "What  pos- 
sible room  is  there  for  that  personal  sense  of  guilt, 
which  conscience  has,  in  a  merely  ideal  notion  of  relative 
profit  and  loss?  Moreover  conscience  itself  spontane- 
ously condemns  all  consideration  of  profit  and  loss,  in  a 
question  of  right  and  wrong.  The  two  ideas  are  antago- 
nistic to  each  other  ;  hence  the  one  cannot. have  devel- 
oped into  the  other. 

There  is  a  function  of  spirit,  that  is  distinct  from 
conscience.  It  is  inseparable  indeed  from  ideas  of  right 
and  wrong,  with  their  consequent  hopes  and  fears,  satis- 
faction and  unsatisfaction  ;  but  it  is  distinguishable,  as  is 
the  top  from  the  base  of  a  mountain.  This  function  lays 
hold  of,  i.e.  apprehends  God  ;  and,  when  in  perfect  de- 
velopment and  full  exercise,  loves  God.  Now  love,  in  its 
fulness,  is  the  very  singleness  of  personal  devotion.  Per- 
fect human  love  is  the  utter  devotion,  consciously,  sub- 
consciously, and  unconsciously,  in  the  conjoint  wholeness 
of  the  person,  of  the  unit  I  to  its  object.  Perfect  love 
towards  God  is  the  outgoing  of  the  whole  singleness  of 
person,  including  all  functions  in  harmony,  towards  One 
\\Tio,  Personal  in  being,  is  Love  ;  Who  both  satisfies  the 
human  function  of  love,  and  inspires  its  longings.  Con- 
science is  in  abeyance  under  love,  because  "  perfect  love 
casteth  out  fear."     1  S.  Jn.  IV.  18. 

Inquiries  into  the  functions  of  spirit  need  not,  for  our 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

present  object,  be  pursued  further.  We  have  found  its 
most  prominent  function  to  be  both  super-material,  and 
super-psychical.  Matter  knows  not  God  by  itself  alone  ; 
nor  does  soul,  when  joined  to  matter  as  in  the  animals, 
love  Him.  The  only  earthly  creature,  who  is  capable  of 
knowing,  and  fearing,  or  of  loving  God,  is  man  ;  and  the 
functions  in  him,  for  such  ends,  are  of  his  spirit.  Such 
functions  are  just  as  much  proofs  of  the  spirit's  existence, 
as  attributes  or  "accidents"  are  of  matter,  and  as 
thoughts  and  emotions  ai-e  of  soul. 

Spirit,  however,  exists  in  man  on  earth  ;  not  apart 
from,  but  conjoined  with  soul  and  body,  in  the  unity  of 
the  person.  Naturally  it  j)ervades,  and  therefore  exalts, 
the  whole  man.  Therefore  the  man  is  superior  to  all 
other  animals,  even  in  animal  functions.  He  excels  also 
amid  all  forms  of  matter.  Even  the  highest  function  of 
the  human  spirit,  that  wherein  it  attains  love-divine, 
reacts  through  soul  and  body  so  that  the  psychical  and 
material  man  both  join  with  it  in  the  unit-consciousness 
of  love,  contributing  thereto  each  its  measure  and  kind 
of  devotion.  In  all  respects,  the  man  is  exalted  natur- 
ally by  his  spiiifc ;  and,  according  to  his  will,  may  ap- 
proach or  recede  from  human  perfectness,  by  j)i'omot- 
ing  or  opposing  the  due  relations  of  spirit  to  soul  and 
body. 

The  human  person  is  tripartite  in  substance,  though 
one  in  the  completeness  of  humanity.  The  three  sub- 
stances may,  for  aught  we  know,  be  separable  one  from 
another  ;  so  that  for  a  time  they  may  dwell  apart  and 
again  come  together.  This  is  conceivable  by  man,  but 
indiscoverable  by  science  or  philosophy,  as  appears  from 
what  we  have  learned  about  the  soul  and  spirit.  Its 
conceivability  makes  its  knowledge  possible  by  revela- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      247 

tion.  God  may  tell  us,  what  we  otherwise  could  not 
learn  about  body,  soul  and  spu'it,  tlirougli  all  tlieir 
known  and  unknown  contingencies  of  life  and  death. 

The  humanity  of  Jesus  includes  all  that  is  found  in 
every  human  person.  Being  "  made  man,"  He  possesses 
a  human  body,  soul,  and  spirit.  They  have  in  Him  the 
same  functions,  and  every  part  retains  its  own.  The  hu- 
man difference  between  Jesus  and  every  personal  man, 
lies  essentially  in  the  personality  only.  Every  human 
creature  is  a  human  person,  dwelhng  in  humanity  only. 
Jesus  is  a  Divine  Person,  Who  has  taken  a  human  spirit, 
Boul  and  body  up  into  the  unity  of  His  Godhead ;  so 
that  He  is  not  only  God  manifest,  but  Qod  manifest  in 
our  flesh.  Every  essential  of  humanity  He  retains, 
through  all  the  contingencies  consequent  to  that  human- 
ity, whether  in  life  or  in  death. 

Man  is  conscious  of  this  complexity  of  constitution. 
As  a  material  organism,  he  begins  to  exist,  grows  and 
develops,  hke  the  plants,  according  to  a  principle,  or 
formative  law,  of  force.  Like  the  animals  also  he  feels, 
and  thinks,  and  reasons,  and  chooses  or  refuses.  He  is 
like  every  other  creature  in  some  respects.  Yet  he 
knows,  in  the  depths  of  his  own  self,  and  nothing  can 
make  him  really  doubt,  that  he  is,  not  only  superior  to 
the  rest  of  creation,  but  also  specifically  and  essentially 
different  from  them. 

Obviously  he  cannot  discover,  and  describe  his  own 
origin  :  yet  he  can  understand  such  description  when 
given,  and  can  judge  its  sufficiency  by  comparison  with 
other  knowledge  or  assurance.  He  can  form  some  idea 
of  the  adequacy  of  a  cause  to  produce  a  known  effect 
He  assumes,  because  it  is  self-evident,  that  any  cause 
must  be  at  least  equal  to  its  own  effect. 

His  consciousness  of  distinction  from,  and  superiority 


248      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

over,  and  beyond  all  other  earthly  creatures,  is  not  merely 
in  degree — as  being  more  beautiful,  or  intelligent,  or 
sensitive  or  imaginative  than  they — but  it  is  in  kind. 
He  is,  not  merely  has,  but  is  something  that  they  are 
not.  This  something,  in  common  philosophical  and  even 
scriptural  language,  is  mentioned  often  as  if  it  were  a 
unit,  and  called  "  soul."  Both  Scripture  and  philoso- 
phy however  recognize,  and  thus  assert,  its  duality  ; 
thereby  distinguishing  between  soul  and  spirit.  Since 
however  both  soul  and  spirit  outlie  the  senses,  and  are 
not  directly  responsive  to  earthly  tests,  the  lower  term  is 
often  used  inclusively  of  the  higher ;  the  distinction  be- 
ing for  the  occasion  held  in  abeyance.  In  this  sense  it 
may  be  said  that  man  is  conscious  of  soul  as  part  of  him- 
self ;  and  yet  so  much  the  deepest  and  fullest  part,  that 
while  he  says  of  it  "  my  soul " ;  it  may  be  also  said  of 
him  "  and  man  became  a  living  soul."  Gen.  11.  7.  The 
soul  of  man  is  his  and  not  another's ;  and  yet  he  is  so 
comprised,  that  his  soul — probably  because  it  pervades, 
and  rules  the  whole  man — is  in  a  certain  sense  himself. 
It  is  conceivable  that  the  body  may  sleep  in  sensational 
unconsciousness,  and  yet  the  soul  be  active.  It  is  con- 
ceivable that  the  body  may  die  and  yet  the  soul  remain 
alive.  In  this  psycho- material,  mortal  life,  consciousness 
perceives  both  soul  and  body  acting  in  unison.  What 
Boul-consciousness  is,  apart  from  the  body,  we  do  not 
know,  because  it  lies  as  yet  outside  our  experience.  We 
are  however  entirely  capable  of  believing  its  existence 
upon  proof ;  and  of  forming  some  conception  of  it  as  fact, 
or  reality. 

The  great  source  of  knowledge,  of  those  facts  that  out- 
lie experience  and  transcend  discovery,  announces  that 
after  "the  Lord  God  formed  man  dust  of  the  ground," 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.      249 

He  "breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  and  man 
became  a  living  soul."     Gen.  11.  7. 

This  soul,  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  complex,  not 
only  LQ  its  functions,  but  in  its  primary  constitution.  It 
has,  not  only  emotion  intellect  and  will  as  the  animals 
have,  and  reason  as  they  seem  to  have,  and  fear  or  hope 
leading  to  refusal  or  choice  ;  but  it  has  also  a  moral  sense 
of  right  and  wrong,  and  an  apprehension  of  spiritual  re- 
lations to  God,  to  eternity,  and  to  other  spirits.  Modern 
Thought  is  obHged  to  acknowledge  this,  at  least  as  a  pos- 
sibihty,  and  with  it  the  further  possibility  of  the  existence 
of  the  spirit-soul  apart  from  the  body,  and  of  its  exercise 
of  consciousness  otherwise  than  through  the  brain  and 
nerves  of  the  body.  Though  when  the  man  is  alive  in  the 
body,  the  movements  of  nervous  tissues  in  certain  ways, 
as  we  again  allow,  accompany  specific  thoughts  or  feel- 
ings ;  these  movements,  we  repeat,  instead  of  being 
causes  may  be  effects.  Hence  their  origin  may  be  spir- 
itual or  psychical,  we  know  not  which,  and  cannot  know, 
because  they  themselves  belong  to  primary  conscious- 
ness. The  existence,  the  operation,  and  the  constitution 
of  the  soul  therefore  cannot  be  discovered.  \\^at  we 
know  must  be  made  known  to  us.  All  we  can  require  is 
that  the  facts  be  possible  ;  after  that  the  whole  depends 
upon  evidence. 

The  existence  of  the  Divine  revelation  has  been  already 
abundantly  proved.  We  turn  therefore  to  it,  for  infor- 
mation about  the  soul.  There,  as  we  have  seen,  the  cre- 
ation of  the  soul  is  described,  and  man  is  said  to  have 
become  a  living  soul.  Some  functions  of  the  soul  are 
treated  therein  as  spiritual ;  and  yet  it  acts  in,  with,  and 
through  the  body.  Sacred  history,  interwoven  with  and 
authenticated  by  Divine  revelation,  states  that  while  men 
were  Kving,  angels  communicated  with  them,  and  God 
11* 


250      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

talked  to  them.  In  one  place  the  whole  human  consti- 
tution is  described  as  "  your  whole  spirit  and  soul  and 
body."  I  Thes.  V.  23.  The  afflatus  of  The  Spirit,  the 
breath  of  God — whatever  that  be — entered  into  the  animal 
soul  and  material  form  of  man,  and  he  "  became  a  hving 
soul " ;  and  henceforward,  made  not  substantially  but 
personally  immortal,  his  complexity  remains  threefold. 
Disruptions,  changes  and  even  death — i.e.  banishment 
from  the  presence  of  Him,  Who  is  light  and  Hfe — become 
possible  and  even  necessary,  as  we  have  seen,  to  perfect 
human  freedom,  but  the  immortality  is  indestructible. 

This  immortality  belongs  to  the  essential  person,  that 
to  which  the  terms,  *  "I,  Thou,  He"  with  their  cases  and 
numbers  belong'  {Waterland).  It  is  true  that  matter 
may,  in  a  certain  sense,  be  called  immortal,  i.e.  inde- 
structible ;  but  this  is  not  what  is  meant  in  the  phrases 
"  man's  immortality  "  or  "  the  immortality  of  the  human 
spirit-soul."  They  carry  the  idea  of  the  indivisible,  unit, 
the  I,  Thou,  He,  the  person.  Of  this  person  we  do  not, 
as  we  at  first  showed,  affirm  constituent  parts.  It  in- 
cludes body,  soul,  and  spirit ;  but  it  is  the  subject  to 
which  body,  soul,  and  spirit  belong.  What  it  is  essen- 
tially cannot,  as  we  have  already  seen,  be  described,  be- 
cause it  indwells  the  j)rimary  consciousness,  to  which  all 
description  is  addressed.  We  know  it  not  as  an  object 
of  being,  but  as  the  being^subject,  before  which  all  ob- 
jects come,  into  which  sensations  and  ideas  pour,  and 
from  which  "  energy  "  proceeds.  Nor,  as  a  subject,  do 
we  assign  to  it  an  entity  apart  from  its  manifestations. 
We  do  not  say  of  the  human  person,  that  he  existed  once 
alone,  then  received  a  body,  and  an  animal  soul,  and  a 
spirit  from  the  breathing  of  God.  These  steps  we  believe 
in,  upon  the  adequate  testimony  of  the  Divine-revelation. 
Therefore  we  hold  that  man  is  a  person,  to  whom  in  his 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      251 

completeness  belong  body,  soul,  and  spirit ;  each  spe- 
cific, yet  all  comprised  in  liis  identity.  We  do  not,  and, 
as  "we  have  over  and  over  again  seen,  cannot  know  the 
location  nor  any  other  objectivity  of  the  essential  person. 
We  may  know  where  it  is  not ;  and,  after  exhausting 
negatives,  may  affirm  positively  that  it  is  somewhere  or 
rather  somehow  in  what  remains.  We  may  for  instance 
say  it  is  not  in  the  refuse  of  the  body  because  they  pass 
away,  while  the  same  person,  in  his  identity  and  unit 
consciousness  remains.  It  is  not  in  the  thought,  or  the 
operations  of  intellect,  for  they  go  on  changing  continu- 
ally, without  disturbing  the  identity.  When  we  get  to 
the  lower  stratum  of  the  human  constitution,  the  spirit, 
we  are  evidently  very  near  the  seat  of  personahty.  The 
distinctive  human  peculiarity  of  divine  apprehension, 
with  the  consequent  conviction  of  dependence  and  sense 
of  duty,  are  attached  to  personality.  They  are  not  it, 
exactly,  but  they  are  its  primary  outactions.  They  are 
*  I  am  ;  I  am  not  of  myself  ;  I  therefore,  being  under  ob- 
ligations to  another,  owe  thanks  and  obedience  * ;  but 
back  of  all  still  stands  "  L" 

This  personality,  dwelling  in  spirit,  soul,  and  body,  is 
conceivably  distinct  from  either.  We  are  therefore  capa- 
ble of  receiving  information  about  its  relations  to  one  or 
other  of  these  conjuncts,  or  to  all  combined ;  and  that 
information,  being  essentially  indiscoverable,  must  come 
from  Him,  by  Whom  we  are. 

Before  seeking  that  information,  it  may  perhaps  be 
well  again  to  remember  that  although  Jesus,  when 
"  made  man,"  took  complete  humanity  up  into  His  per- 
son. He  did  not  become  a  human  person  :  it  will  thence 
appear  that  whatever  He  may  declare  of  His  own  "  I,* 
may  not  therefore  be  affirmed  of  any  other  man's  '*I, 
Thou,  or  He." 


252      THE  CKEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT. 

Keeping  this  in  mind,  we  turn  to  the  one  only  source 
of  information  upon  this  subject.  There  we  learn  thfjt, 
while  hanging  on  the  cross,  Jesus  said  to  the  thief,  "  To- 
day shalt  Thou  be  with  Me  in  Paradise."  S.  Lu.  XXIII. 
43.  "We  learn  that  not  only  His  own  personality,  but 
the  personality  of  the  thief  also  should  be  that  day  in 
Paradise.  The  personality  of  the  thief  was  only  human. 
It  held  his  body  while  in  mortality,  but  evidently  was 
susceptible  of  separation  from  the  body,  because  it 
("thou")  was  to  meet  the  personahty  of  Jesus  ("Me") 
that  day  in  Paradise. 

We  thus  learn  that  the  human  person  is  separable 
from  the  mortal  body.  The  heathen  indeed  generally, 
and  probably  always,  believed  this.  Hence  the  common 
phrase  "  the  immortality  of  the  soul "  ;  a  phrase  which 
however  belongs  to  philosophy !  Christian-theology 
does  not  teach  "the  immortality  of  the  soul"  in  the 
philosophic  sense.  It  teaches  the  fact  of  personal  im- 
mortality. From  the  case  before  us,  it  teaches  that  this 
personal  immortality  continues  and  subsists  apart  from 
the  body.     Its  inference  is  that  the  spirit  is  undying. 

There  is  no  human  power,  yet  developed,  for  distin- 
guishing between  soul  and  spirit ;  except,  by  comparison, 
thro'  aoialogy  with  other  animals.  We  can  neither  dis- 
cern nor  analyze  the  substance  of  either.  Nor  does  the 
Divine-revelation  explain  their  distinctions  one  from  an- 
other. We  only  infer  the  existence  in  man  of  an  animal 
soul ;  and,  for  distinctness  of  idea,  speak  of  a  soul  sub- 
stance ;  but  we  do  not  positively  know  of  that  soul  sub- 
stance, and  therefore  cannot  show  it  either  apart  from 
or  in  combination  with  so-called  "  spirit-substance." 
Hence  we  find  the  Scriptures  using  soul  and  spirit,  not 
always  meaning  the  one  without  the  other.  We  know 
they  are  distinguishable  i.e.  distinct  in  essence,  because 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      253 

they  are  occasionally  so  mentioned  ;  but  we  do  not  know 
that  they  ever  exist  apart.  Hence  it  is  not  an  affirma- 
tion of  the  soul's  immortality,  as  distinct  from  the  spirit 
of  man,  when  it  is  said  that  men  may  kill  the  body  "  but 
are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul,"  S.  Matt.  X.  28 :  nor  is  it 
a  denial  of  the  soul's  immortality  when  it  is  written  that 
"  the  body  without  the  spirit  is  dead."     S.  Jas.  IV.  5. 

The  language  of  Scripture  agrees  throughout  with  the 
account  of  the  final  creation  of  man.  *'  Man  became  a 
living  soul."  Gen.  11.  7.  The  "  breath  of  the  lives "  in- 
breathed the  dust-formed  Adam  ;  and  then  his  personal 
identity  began,  and  was  made  inseparable  from  his  liv- 
ing soul.  His  spirit  and  soul  were  conjoined  forever. 
His  animality,  like  his  materiality,  were  vivified  by  this 
breathing  of  God.  His  spirit  could  leave  his  body.  It 
does  not  appear  that  it  would  leave  his  soul.  The  thief 
went  that  day  to  Paradise.  His  body  remained  on  earth. 
Hence  we  know  that  man  is  separable.  We  use  often 
the  heathen  phrase,  and  speak  of  the  "immortal  soul," 
but  the  Scriptures  declare  the  personal  identity  to  be 
resident  in  the  spirit-soul.  Hence  all  we  can  positively 
now  know  of  the  personal  immortality,  is  that  it  is  sepa- 
rable from  the  body — we  know  not  how  or  how  long  ; 
and  that  it  is  capable  of  paradisaical  residence  and  bhss  : 
and  we  speak  not  erroneously,  though  inadequately, 
when  we  say  either  that  the  soul  or  the  spirit  of  one  de- 
parted is  at  rest,  in  conscious  peace  in  Paradise.  What 
we  mean  is  that  the  soul  and  spirit,  or  the  spirit-soul, 
now  absent  from  the  body,  is  at  rest  in  peace.  It  is  the 
person,  we  mean,  not  fully  equipped  with  all  possible 
functions ;  but  the  very  person  nevertheless  who  lived 
on  earth. 

The  person  of  Jesus  undoubtedly  laid  aside  His  human 
body,  as  all  men  do  at  death.    He  doubtless  being  "per- 


254      THE  CEEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT. 

feet  man,"  took  to  Paradise  exactly  what  any  personal 
man  would  take.  The  person  of  the  Son  of  God  there- 
fore, when  He  said  to  the  thief  "with  Me,"  meant  that 
the  thief  should  that  day  be  with  the  human  spirit-soul 
of  Jesus  in  Paradise  ;  where  that  spirit-soul  would  be  the 
human  medium  of  His  personal  manifestation,  as  His 
body  had  been  on  earth. 

"We  have  no  right  to  ask  anything  but  evidence  that 
Jesus  descended  into  Hades.  On  the  cross  He  said  to 
the  thief,  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise  "  ; 
and  yet,  the  third  day  after,  He  said  to  Mary  Magdalene, 
*'I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  My  Father."  S.  Jn.  XX.  17. 
An  interval  had  elapsed,  during  which  the  body  of  the 
Godman  was  lying  in  the  grave,  and  He — the  essential 
"I"  as  to  the  veritable,  complete,  and  henceforth  insep- 
arable humanity,  in  and  of  which  He  was  speaking — had 
not  ascended  to  heaven.  Where  was  His  "  living  soul," 
His  conscious,  disembodied,  human  essence  ?  "  For 
Christ  ....  dead  indeed  in  flesh  but  alive  in  the  spirit, 
in  which  also  departing  He  preached  to  spirits  in  prison." 
1 S.  Pet.  HI.  18-19.  He  went  therefore  to  the  place  where 
disembodied  men  i.e.  spirit-souls,  were  in  ward,  waiting. 

While  in  human  life  on  earth  He  had  at  least  sanc- 
tioned the  then  common  belief  in  the  existence  of  Hades, 
or  place  of  departed  spirits,  by  the  parable  of  Dives  and 
Lazarus.  He  Himself  went  evidently  to  Paradise,  where 
Abraham  was.  We  know  nothing  surely  about  what  He 
preached,  or  where  in  Hades  He  went,  or  how  far  His 
preaching  extended.  Nor  do  we  know  anything  posi- 
tively about  the  location  of  Hades.  The  souls  of  the 
saints  in  it  cry  out  to  God,  and  He  hears  them.  They 
are  in  some  sense  "under  the  altar,"  before  God  in 
Heaven,  on  which  is  burnt  the  incense  with  which  their 
prayers  ascend  before  God.     Eev.  YI.  9.    YHI.  3-4.    As 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      z5o 

Hades  is,  thus  evidently,  not  in  Heaven,  tlio'  under  the 
eye  and  ear  of  God,  it  is  also  in  some  sense,  even  yet,  in 
the  presence  of  Jesus,  for  S.  Paul  writes  "I  .  .  .  .  desire 
to  depart  and  be  with  Christ."     Phil.  I.  2-3. 

Thus  the  whole  complexity  of  the  human  constitution 
was  partaken  of  by  The  Saviour,  while  all,  that  time  and 
circumstance  require  with  regard  to  it,  was  met  and 
fulfilled  in  Him.  Not  a  point  is  wanting,  to  show  His 
complete  identification  with  the  whole  one  human  race. 
The  work,  He  had  to  do  for  man,  was  done  thorough^. 
Every  essentially  human  characteristic  was  manifested, 
and  all  necessary  experiences  of  humanity  were  under- 
gone. Everywhere,  He  treads  the  path,  that  we  mast 
follow.  No  possibility  can  involuntarily  befaU  any  man, 
that  He  has  not  provided  for,  by  preceding  us,  conquer- 
ing as  He  went. 

The  waiting  time  of  disembodied  men  is  plainly  an 
incomplete  existence.  Though  happy  or  miserable,  ac- 
cording to  the  moral  and  siDiritual  course  pursued  in 
mortahty,  it  precedes  a  consummation.  This,  the  Creed 
hereafter  declares.  It  is  as  silent,  as  the  Scriptures  are, 
about  the  occupation  of  the  "spirits  in  ward."  We  are 
left  therefore  chiefly  to  reason,  and  the  conjectures  of 
analogy,  if  we  wish  to  form  any  definite  picture  of  its 
society  and  polities.  The  duration  of  the  period  of 
Hades,  or  the  "  Intermediate  State,"  is  not  given  in 
terms  of  time  ;  but  it  will  evidently  come  to  an  end  at 
the  "  times  of  restitution  of  all  thiags."    Acts  HI.  21. 


256      THE  OEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 


"  ®l)e  tljirlr  bag  ^t  voBt  from  tl)e  kab/* 

"2lnir  tl)e  tijirlr  bag  (^e  rose  again,  accorbing  to  iljt 

jSanptur€0." 

As  a  historical  fact,  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Chkist 
from  the  dead  is  authenticated  more  abundantly  than 
any  other  fact  of  the  past.  It  occurred  openly.  It  was 
tested  fully  at  the  time  by  both  friends  and  foes  ;  by  the 
one  as  personal  witnesses,  and  the  other  as  unable  to 
gainsay  it  or  counteract  its  force.  It  has,  in  every  age 
since,  been  witnessed  to,  attested,  and  confirmed  by  a 
visible  society  or  "  church  ",  whose  origin  and  perpetuity 
are  unaccountable  without  it. 

A  fact  must  ever  stand.  Whatever  opposition  may  be 
made  to  it,  on  the  ground  of  singularity  ;  or  whatever 
plausible  argument  may  be  constructed,  to  show  its  im- 
probability ;  or  however  ingenious  theories  may  be 
broached,  to  prove  it  a  deception  or  mistake ;  adequate 
evidence,  that  it  is  a  fact,  established  it  beyond  fair  con- 
troversy. 

An  assertion,  beyond  this,  that  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  cannot  be  true  because  of  inherent  impossibility, 
is  simply  an  assumption  by  the  objector  of  all  knowl- 
edge. When  men  talk  of  and  pretend  to  judge  of  im- 
possibihties,  they  reveal  either  their  own  ignorance,  or 
their  inordinate  and  therefore  absurd  self-confidence. 
Nothing  can  be  hopefully  argued  before  those  who  tread 
or  think  they  tread  a  plane,  above  that  whereon  simple 


I 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      257 

lovers  of  truth  for  truth's  sake  humbly  yet  surely  delve 
among  facts. 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  was  not 
unknown  before  Jesus  came  on  earth.  Instances  of  res- 
urrection are  related  in  the  narratives  of  the  old  Scrip- 
tui-es.  Like  all  the  facts  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  in- 
deed of  all  ancient  documents,  these  instances  are 
wrapped  in  shadows  of  age.  We  may  be  convinced  of 
their  inherent  probability  ;  but,  without  the  light  thrown 
on  them  by  subsequent  words  and  events,  they  would  be 
now  hard  to  prove. 

This  acknowledgment  is  made,  not  as  an  allowance  of 
insufficiency  in  a  Book  of  God,  but  as  an  assertion  of  the 
Unity  of  All  Scripture.  One  part  does  not  stand  alone. 
The  whole  is  necessary  to  the  consistency  of  any  part. 
Therefore  it  is  waste  labour  to  answer  objections  to  lesser 
details,  before  the  central  fact — round  which  aU  revolve 
and  upon  which  all  depend — is  established.  The  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  being  proved,  all  Scripture  becomes  authen- 
ticated. Its  genuineness  becomes  then,  in  detail,  a  fair 
subject  of  criticism;  but  criticism  has  no  right  to  assume 
the  impossibility  of  evidence.  Everything  provable  is 
more  than  possible.  The  very  fact,  that  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus  is  unique,  forms  one  of  the  signs  that  it  is  genu- 
ine. Its  pre-eminence,  and  its  overwhelming  proof,  mu- 
tually strengthen  and  illumine  each  other. 

It  was  evidently  not  the  intention  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament to  reveal,  in  specific  form  and  circumstantial 
detail,  the  life,  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Messiah. 
Prophecy  does  not  anticipate,  it  foreshadows  history. 
This  foreshadowing  varies  in  distinctness  ;  sometimes 
being  a  dim  outline  at  first,  filled  in  by  additional  pro- 
phecies as  time  passes  and  fulfilment  approaches;  and 
sometimes  remaining  a  dim  outline  to  the  last. 


258      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

The  prophecies  of  the  Resurrection  are  of  the  latter 
character.  The  coining  of  the  Messiah  was  amply  fore- 
told. His  miraculous  conception,  His  Divine  manhood, 
His  authority  as  God's  anointed  one.  His  death  and  even 
the  manner  and  peculiar  circumstances  of  it,  are  all  fre- 
quently by  various  old  prophets  set  forth.  The  Messiah 
was  to  be  cut  off,  and  yet  He  was  to  be  possessor  of 
"  sure  mercies,"  and  a  conqueror  over  His  foes.  A  vic- 
torious, and  a  death  suffering  Messiah  is  now  understood  ; 
but,  in  the  terms  of  ancient  prophecy,  they  might  justly 
have  been  esteemed  not  clear.  In  like  manner  the  singu- 
lar utterance  of  David,  "  For  Thou  wilt  not  leave  my 
soul  in  Hades,  neither  wilt  Thou  suffer  Thine  Holy  one 
to  see  corruption,"  Ps.  XYI.  10,  are  very  wonderful  in 
themselves,  tho'  perplexing.  In  the  light  of  subsequent 
facts  however,  they  become  a  clear  prophecy  of  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus  ;  as  S.  Peter  shows,  when  quoting  and 
arguing  from  them,  in  his  sermon  on  the  great  day  of 
Pentecost.     Acts  H.  25-36. 

Other  passages  need  not  be  reproduced,  in  support  of 
the  last  clause  of  the  article  under  consideration.  This 
seals  the  fact,  that  the  Old  Scriptures  did  foretell  the 
resurrection.  The  degree  of  their  clearness  is  a  subject, 
that  belongs  to  another  line  of  consideration  than  ours  at 
present. 

In  the  New  Testament,  prophecy  upon  this  point 
becomes  more  distinct,  even  crucial  as  testimony,  and 
therefore  irrefragable  as  evidence. 

The  unique  and  unanswerable  proof  of  the  truth  of 
Jesus,  which  no  man  can  successfully  gainsay,  is  contained 
in  the  following  concurrence  of  facts  ; 

1.  He  openly,  and  unreservedly,  challenged  all  to 
convict  Him  :  "  Which  of  you  convicteth  Me  of  sin." 
S.  Jn.  Vin.  46. 


THE  CBEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       259 

2.  He  made  a  direct  appeal  to  God — even  claiming  it 
as  evidence  of  God's  love  for  Him — in  asserting,  "  I  lay- 
down  My  life  that  I  might  take  it  again.  No  man  taketh 
it  from  Me  but  I  lay  it  down  of  Myself.  I  have  power  to 
lay  it  down  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again."  As  fur- 
ther solemn  asseveration  of  this  stupendous  claim  ;  and 
speaking  officially,  as  the  Anointed  One  who  had  accepted 
the  subordination  of  mediatorship.  He  added  "  This  com- 
mandment have  I  received  of  my  Father."  X.  17,  18. 
He  had  made  the  same  claim  before,  with  less  distinct- 
ness, but  equal  publicity.  H.  19.  His  enemies,  as  well 
as  His  friends,  heard  both. 

The  fulfilment  of  the  first  part  of  the  claim  was  made 
on  the  cross ;  when,  as  all  the  four  evangehsts  declare, 
"  He  yielded  or  gave  up  the  ghost."  That  "  Pilate  mar- 
velled if  He  were  already  dead,"  is  unconscious,  hostile 
testimony  to  the  fact  that  Jesus  laid  down  His  own  life. 
Nor  does  the  physiological  argument — that  because  water 
and  blood  flowed  from  the  probably  penetrated  pericar- 
dium, when  the  soldier  pierced  His  side,  thereby  indica- 
ting a  material  bursting  of  the  walls  of  the  heai*t,  as  the 
natural  cause  of  the  sudden  dissolution — affect  our  posi- 
tion ;  because  the  same  power  which  laid  down  life 
would,  as  Lord  of  natui*e,  command  the  cooperation  of 
the  powers  of  nature  in  effecting  His  great  seK-immola- 
tion. 

His  enemies  did  their  utmost,  and  thereby  sealed  their 
own  guiltiness,  but  He  Himself  retained  life  in  His  own 
hands. 

3.  Again  and  again,  from  early  in  His  ministry  to  the 
very  last.  He  declared  that  He  would  raise  Himself  from 
the  dead  on  the  third  day.  S.  Jn.  H.  19.  S.  Matt.  XYI. 
21.  S.  IVIar.  YUL  31.  S.  Lu.  YUI.  22.  So  pubHc  had 
been  this  assertion  and  prophecy  about  Himself,  that 


260      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

even  His  most  implacable  enemies  were  aware  of  it ;  for 
"the  next  day,  ....  the  chief  priest  and  Pharisees 
came  together  unto  Pilate,  saying.  Sir  we  remember  that 
that  deceiver  said  while  he  was  yet  alive,  After  three 
days  I  will  arise  again."     S.  Matt.  XXVII.  62,  63. 

4  Finally,  the  fact,  that  Jesus  did  rise  on  the  third 
day,  is  attested  in  every  way  that  such  an  occurrence 
needs  for  proof.  Stern  Roman  soldiers,  on  guard,  fled  at 
the  appearance  of  an  angel.  Loving  women  saw  angels, 
and  heard  their  testimony  of  His  resurrection.  They 
afterwards  saw,  talked  with,  and  embraced  Jesus.  He 
showed  Himself  to  His  disciples  for  forty  days,  talking 
with  them,  eating  with  them,  permitting  even  the  hand- 
ling of  His  person  and  the  touching  of  His  wounded 
hands  and  side.  At  one  time  "  He  was  seen  of  above 
five  hundred  brethren  at  once  ".     1  Cor.  XV.  6. 

No  greater  combination  of  contemporary  proofs  coiild 
be  required,  to  confirm  the  resurrection  as  a  historical 
fact.  It  was  believed  by  multitudes.  It  stood  against 
the  utmost  efforts  of  persecution  to  blot  it  out,  thro' 
scourging  and  death.  It  became  the  central  truth  of  a 
rapidly  extending,  visible,  spiritual  kingdom,  or  church. 
It  became  the  keystone  to  a  great  arch  of  revelation ; 
that  rises  up  to  it  on  one  hand  from  Genesis,  and  on  the 
other  from  "  The  Eevelation  ".  It  was  the  central  life 
of  the  word  of  witness,  coincided  in  by  EvangeHsts  and 
Apostles ;  and  asserted  by  them  to  be  the  fulfilment  of 
Messianic  prophecies — long  and  well  known.  It  was 
early  made  a  test  truth,  on  which  all  Christianity  is 
based,  "If  Christ  be  not  risen,  then  is  our  preaching 
vain,  and  your  faith  is  also  vain".  1  Cor.  XV.  14. 
The  Church — resting  on  the  truth  of  Jesus,  of  which  liis 
resurrection  is  the  final  confirmation — has  been  a  visible 
power  from  the  first ;  and,  however  corrupted,  has  ever 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      261 

remained  constant  in  her  testimony  to  this  one  fact. 
This  attestation  is  unanswerable  proof  to  our  age,  as  it 
has  been  to  every  antecedent  Christian  age,  of  the  re- 
ahty,  and  complete  actuality  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  from  the  dead.  As  man  He  died,  and  His 
enemies  sealed  His  tomb  and  set  a  watch  over  it.  As 
man  He  burst  the  tomb,  and  took  unto  Himself  His 
Ufe  again.  Certainty  surrounds  this  fact.  All  reality  and 
all  truth — in  heaven  and  earth  whether  reHgious,  phi- 
losophic or  scientific — stands  only  as  it  stands  :  for  His 
personal  truth,  which  is  the  assurance  of  the  consistency 
of  all  things,  has  the  arch  of  its  attestation  keyed  by  the 
reahty  of  His  resurrection. 

The  significance  of  the  transaction  accompanies  its 
authenticity. 

First  of  all  it  seals  the  whole  word  of  Jesus,  Who 
Himself  seals  the  whole  Divine  revelation.  All  the 
wonderful  history  of  creation,  concentring  round  man 
made  after  the  likeness  of  God  ;  the  Old  Testament  nar- 
ratives of  God's  intercourse  with  men  ;  the  story  of  The 
Covenant,  with  the  giving  of  the  Law,  and  its  authority, 
as  well  as  the  significance  of  the  Temple  with  its  priest- 
hood and  sacrifices  ;  and  finally,  the  inspiration  of  the 
Prophets,  involving  of  course  the  authority  of  theu'  mes- 
sages, and  the  sure  fulfilment  of  their  predictions,  are  all 
linked  to  the  person  and  history  of  Jesus.  They  stand,  or 
fall  with  His  truth  :  and  His  resun-ection  from  the  dead, 
as  it  was  the  crucial  test,  becomes,  by  its  success  and 
abundant  authentication,  the  unanswerable  vindication  of 
His  truth,  and  confirmation  of  all  depending  on  Him. 

Moreover  the  authority,  power,  and  claims  of  Chris- 
tianity stand  or  fall  with  the  truth  of  Jesus,  and  are  held 
together  by  the  Keystone  of  the  resurrection. 

The  opponents  of  Christianity  do  not  touch  the  strong- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

hold  of  "  The  faith  once  dehvered  unto  the  saints,"  until 
they  assail  "  Jesus  and  the  resurrection  ".  In  vain  for 
ages  have  men  hurled  themselves  against  "this  stone". 
Every  attempt  to  disturb  its  fixity,  or  to  displace  it  from 
history,  or  to  assign  it  to  the  cloudland  of  mythical 
legend,  or  to  represent  it  as  a  deception,  or  even  as  a  mis- 
take, have  all  failed.  The  consistency  of  the  laws  of  mere 
criticism — historic  or  philosophic — compel  its  acknowl- 
edgment. For,  if  it  is  not  proved  true,  nothing  in  the  his- 
toric past  stands  ;  because  nothing  is  so  largely  authen- 
ticated, contemporaneously  and  subsequently^  as  it  is. 

Of  course  the  assertion  at  any  time  may  be  made — as 
it  is  certainly  made  by  a  class  of  men,  learned  in  one 
line,  who  have  just  now  the  popular  ear — that  the  resur- 
rection is  inherently  impossible,  and  therefore  lies  out- 
side the  pale  of  proof.  This  school  of  objectors  has 
been  in  existence  always.  Their  one  argument  is,  "  all 
things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  ; "  and 
therefore  what  they  call  interruptions  of  the  regular 
order  of  nature  cannot  occur. 

The  obvious  answer  is,  that  no  one  can  use  this  argu- 
ment until  he  has  comprehended  and  codified  all  nature's 
laws.  When  science  shall  have  comprehended  the  "  order 
of  nature,"  and  mapped  out  its  limits,  it  will  then  be 
time  enough  to  inquire  into  the  scientific  possibility  of 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  Until  then  the  fact  must 
stand  upon  its  own  unexampled  breadth,  and  firmness  of 
evidence.  True  "  wisdom-lovers  "  base  theories  on  facts, 
not  the  contrary  ;  and  when  a  fact  appears,  they  hold  it 
alone  until  the  ripe  time  shall  come  wherein  they  may 
see  it  in  its  association  and  accordance  with  the  self-con- 
sistent, all  embracing,  ever  harmonious  unity  of  truth. 

The  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  more  than  an  isolated  in- 
cident, in  the  history  of  men.     Jesus,  being  not  a  human 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.      2G3 

person,  but  the  Divine  Son  incarnate,  brought,  as  its  last 
Adam,  humanity  itself  through  the  grave  and  Hades  out 
from  the  realms  of  death.  Captivity  is  led  captive,  death 
hath  no  more  dominion  over  mankind. 

As  a  general  condition,  of  which  every  individual  shall 
partake,  the  resurrection  like  birth  falls  to  individuals, 
irrespective  of  their  own  choice.  As  they  are  bom  and 
die,  without  willing  either  ;  so  shall  they  be  raised  again, 
without  willing  it. 

No  interference  with  man's  original  and  inalienable 
freedom  of  choice,  arises  from  this  fact.  It  w^as  never 
pretended  that  man  is  free,  as  God  is,  by  inherent  self- 
sufficiency.  His  liberty,  being  that  of  a  creature,  is 
bounded.  All  he  can  fairly  ask,  in  relation  to  the 
resurrection,  is  that  when  he  is  raised  he  shall  be  him- 
self, and  have  such  an  assignment  given  to  him,  as  will 
accord  with  the  election  he  has  made  of  master  and 
destiny  during  the  just  time  for  decision  fairly  allotted 
to  him.  Nor  can  he  determine  this  just  time.  It  must 
bear  relation  to  all  men,  and  all  things,  and  all  time. 
Hence  it  must  be  determined  by  The  Omniscient  One. 
God's  power  and  love  are  joined  to  His  knowledge.  Man 
therefore,  not  only  must  leave  times  and  seasons  to  Him  ; 
but  he  may  do  so,  with  aU  assurance  of  His  coactive  jus- 
tice and  mercy. 

For  those  persons  who  use  their  liberty,  in  electing 
God  as  their  master  and  Lord,  the  resurrection  of  hu- 
manity, in  Jesus,  brings  the  personal  fruition  of  all  vic- 
tory and  glory.  No  doubt  the  whole  power  of  death, 
with  all  that  appertains  to  it  of  weariness  and  weakness 
and  sickness,  is  overcome.  "Nothing  shall  by  any 
means  hurt "  "  the  men  of  good  will."  This  side  of  the 
grave,  they  shall  be  compensated  for  what  they  endure 
of  death  and  its  adjuncts  ;  while  beyond  it,  they  shall  be. 


264      THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

exempted  from  every  ill.  This  follows  from  the  nature 
of  the  conquest.  It  is  amply  confirmed  by  "  most  sure 
word  of  prophecy." 

The  reverse  of  this  picture  may  be  drawn,  with  the 
pencil  and  coloring  of  man's  free  will.  "What  is  given 
to  believers  in  Jesus,  who  seek  the  Loed  aright,  and 
choose  Him  for  their  King,  is  what  is  not  given  to  those 
who  make  the  opposite  choice.  All  is  fair,  and  just  deal- 
ing. Those  who  elect  life  and  seek  it  through  Him,  Who 
alone  is  "the  life  and  light  of  men,"  receive  it  here  in 
temporal  measure,  and  hereafter  shall  enter  into  its  ful- 
ness. They,  who  make  the  opposite  choice,  cannot  es- 
cape from  the  immortality  of  humanity.  They  must 
exist,  but  not  with  Him,  AVho  being  Son  and  heir  of  God 
takes  those  who  have  chosen  Him  to  dwell  with  Him, 
and  share  forever  His  heavenly  inheritance. 

Not  only  does  all  the  good  and  glory  of  hope  in  this 
life  gleam  forth  from  the  Eesurrection  ;  but  all  the  future 
is  so  illumined  by  it,  that  even  the  grave  and  Hades  be- 
come only  a  curtain,  drawn  for  a  little  period  before  an 
assured  immortality  of  life  and  light  and  joy.  Nothing 
now  lies  immovable,  and  heavy,  and  dark  upon  the  soul 
of  man.  Some  individuals  indeed  may  not  attain  the 
fulness  of  the  blessings  of  the  resurrection  ;  but  the  pos- 
sibility of  full  attainment  is  secured. 

It  is  the  last  final  conquest,  wrought  in  humanity  over 
all  dangers  and  all  foes.  It  breaks  away  the  door,  which 
shut  man  out  from  God.  It  removes  the  great  impedi- 
ment to  that  restoration,  wherein  godlike  man  may  enter 
into  the  personal  presence  of  God,  Whom  he  is  like. 
This  entrance  involves  communion  with  God  ;  and  secures 
free  intercourse  between  God,  Who  is  love,  and  man, 
whose  highest,  deepest,  broadest  self-development  lies 
in  the  interchance  of  love's  utterances  :  or  rather  in  the 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      2G5 

flow  and  reflow  of  love  itself.  The  boundless  source  of 
love  flows  over,  into  and  through  its  creatures.  Its  crea- 
tures, made  originally  like  it,  respond  to  its  outaction. 
The  Almighty-will  concurs  with  Infinite  love.  The  will 
of  the  creature  follows  its  heart.  Thus  the  human  is 
free  before  the  Divine,  and  love  solves  all  mysteries,  re- 
moves all  difficulties,  and  becomes  the  crowning  result  of 
the  resurrection.  Here  on  earth  it  gatheips  some  fruits  ; 
while  it  is  ever  planting  seeds  of  an  immortal  harvest. 
Through  trial,  chastisement,  and  even  purifying  fires,  the 
bodies,  souls,  and  spirits  of  the  saints  on  earth  pass  ;  but 
these  only  serve  to  bum  the  frail  cords  of  temporal  hope 
and  earthly  desire  ;  they  then  reveal  the  indestructible 
tenacity  of  that  one  union  of  hearts,  whereby  the  believer 
i^ours  forth  His  confidence  unto  God,  and  God  makes 
sweet  and  sure  His  word,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for 
thee  ".  The  close  union  of  persons — made  possible  by 
the  Incarnation,  and  cleared  from  all  impediments  by  the 
Eesurrection — which  exists,  by  Jesus,  between  God  and 
aU  "  men  of  good  will,"  opens  up  the  unfathomable,  ex- 
haustless  Divine  love,  which  flows  not  merely  over  or  into 
them,  like  an  ever  outpouring  fountain,  but  rather  as 
the  central  vital  organ  gives  and  receives  back  the  current 
of  life.  God  loving  man,  and  man  loving  God,  their 
union  is  personal,  and  their  communion  complete.  In 
all  he  is,  and  has,  and  hopes  ;  by  prayer,  by  praise,  by  joy- 
ful acquiescence  of  will ;  the  godlike  creature,  here  par- 
tially amid  fears  and  difficulties,  learns  and  leans  on 
God's  love  ;  while  by  Christ's  resurrection  He  is  assured 
that  hereafter,  he  shall  know  the  fulness  of  all  good,  in 
and  by  ever  active  and  ever  responsive  love.  He,  in  his 
own  very  self's  completeness  and  identity,  shall  be  in  end- 
less enjoyment,  not  merely  of  boundless  gifts,  but  of 
personal  interchange  of  love  with  God. 
12 


266      THE  CEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 


"  ^t  aBttnbtb  into  S^a\)tn  aixb  siiidl)  an  tl)c  rtgl)t 
bani  of  ©Oibf,  (El)e  Iat\)n\  ^llmigt)!^/' 

Jesus,  The  Christ,  had  finished  the  work  God  gave 
Him  to  do.  S.  Jn.  XVII.  4.  XIX.  30.  In  the  sub- 
stance of  humanity,  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God  had 
repaired  the  consequences  of  the  fall,  had  "put  away  sin 
by  the  sacrifice  of  himself,"  Heb.  IX.  26,  had  abohshed 
death,  and  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light.  2 
Tim.  I.  10.  He  had  won  His  Kingdom  on  earth,  and 
dispossessed  "the  god  of  this  world."  2  Cor.  IV.  4. 
He  appointed  to  this  kingdom  perpetuity ;  He  gave  it 
disciplinary  authority,  priestly  duties,  and  prophetical 
mission.  S.  Matt.  XXVHI.  19,  20.  S.  Lu.  XXH.  19,  20. 
S.  Jn.  XX.  23.  His  own  threefold  office,  as  prophet 
priest  and  king,  He  had  transferred  to  chosen  apostles 
a  Jn.  XX.  21.  S.  Lu.  XXn.  29  ;  "  to  whom  also  He  shewed 
Himself  alive  after  His  passion  by  many  infallible  proofs, 
being  seen  of  them  forty  days,  and  speaking  of  the  things 
pertaining  to  the  Kingdom  of  God."     Acts  I.  3. 

The  completeness  of  the  Gospel,  embodied  and  estab- 
lished, is  thus  perfect  as  a  revelation,  as  a  polity,  and  as 
ample  guide,  help,  and  means  of  all  needful  grace  or 
favor,  to  all  men  of  good  will  in  all  ages.  Every  thing 
possible,  for  the  salvation  and  complete  restoration  of 
free,  because  distinctively  personal  yet  godUke  man,  had 
been  finished.  The  past  of  humanity  was  reached,  to  its 
remotest  recesses.  Its  future  was  provided  for,  to  ita 
furthest  development,     Though  aU  this  work  of  Christ 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      267 

was  done  in  time,  as  viewed  on  man*s  side ;  its  efficacy 
towards  God,  or  on  its  Divine  side,  was  not  limited  to 
order  and  succession,  because  God,  The  Unconditioned, 
sees  Jesus — so  to  speak — contemporaneously  with  both 
Adam  and  the  infant  that  shall  be  bom  as  the  last  trum- 
pet is  sounding.  Thus  "the  Son  of  God," being  also 
"the  Son  of  Man,"  finished,  completed,  perfected,  estab- 
hshed  forever,  opened  to  all  men  but  forced  upon  none, 
"  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light."     Col.  I.  12. 

These  profound  truths  and  vast  facts  are  amply  at- 
tested, and  stand  irrefragable,  as  the  Resurrection  itself 
is  proved.  In  them,  man's  least  and  largest  dignity  is 
jealously  guarded  ;  while  the  fulness  of  possible  human 
good  is  conserved,  and  the  highest  human  glory  assured. 

After  this,  "  He  was  received  up  into  Heaven,  and  sat 
on  the  right  hand  of  God."  S.  Mar.  XVL  19.  Acts  VH. 
55.  Ps.  ex.  1. 

He  had  Himself  foretold  His  ascension,  S.  Jn.  YI.  62. 
XVI.  28.  XX.  17,  thus  committing  His  truthfulness  to 
another  test  among  the  accumulated,  extraordinary  and 
unexampled  proofs  by  which  it  might  be  tried.  Before 
the  eyes  of  His  disciples,  in  broad  day,  "while  they  be- 
held. He  was  taken  up  ;  and  a  cloud  received  Him  out  of 
their  sight."    Acts  I.  9. 

Upon  His  ascension,  as  a  reward  to  Him  through  His 
manhood,  for  His  human  faith  shown  in  perfect  obedi- 
ence, "  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  Him,  and  given 
Him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name  :  that  at  the  name 
of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and 
things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth ;  and  that 
every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Chkist  is  Lord,  to 
the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  Phil.  H.  9-11.  Thus 
humanity,  in  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God,  wins  lordship 


268      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

over  all  creation  ;  and  this,  not  only  without  infringing 
the  Divine  prerogative,  but  in  glorious  communion  of 
j)ower  and  glory  with  the  Father,  Himself.  Nor  is  this — 
as  we  cannot  too  deeply  consider— a  lordship  of  one  man 
because  Jesus  is  not  a  human  person  :  it  is  the  lordship 
of  humanity  at  large  of  which  every  human  creature  par- 
takes, over  which  presides  forever  the  everlasting  God- 
man,  in  the  power  and  glory  of  which  every  human  per- 
son "  of  good  will "  shall  share ;  and  from  which  only 
those  will  be  excluded,  and  that  by  their  own  choice, 
who  say,  "We  will  not  have  this  man  to  reign  over  us." 
S.  Lu.  XIX.  14. 

The  Heaven,  into  which  Jesus  ascended,  was  either  a 
place,  or  a  mere  state,  or  rather  a  mode  of  existence. 
The  common  idea  of  Heaven,  prevalent  among  all  nations 
in  all  ages,  and  sanctioned  by  usage  in  the  literal  Scrip- 
tures, is  that  of  an  exalted  locality,  where  God  sits,  as  on 
a  throne,  with  the  universe  under  His  feet.  The  Bible 
sets  forth  gradations,  not  only  of  conditions  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Heaven,  but  in  the  place  itself.  Thus  S. 
Paul  believed  that  he  was  "caught  up  to  the  third 
heaven."  2  Cor.  XH.  2.  Solomon,  in  his  prayer  of  dedi- 
cation, speaks  of  "  the  Heaven  and  Heaven  of  Heavens." 
1  Kin.  "Vlii.  27.  The  plural  form  is  common  in  both 
Testaments,  as  an  intensive  of  the  singular.  Every  one 
familiar  with  the  Bible  is  also  familiar  with  the  idea  of 
some  exalted  locality,  wherein  dwells  the  central  mani- 
festation of  the  person  of  the  Father,  having  the  God- 
man  at  His  right  hand,  with  the  Holy  Spirit  before  Him, 
and  all  surrounded  by  concentric  circles  of  glorious  hu- 
man and  angelic  personages. 

There  is  a  philosophical  objection  to  this  view,  which 
Modem  Thought  strenuously  urges,  and  by  which  the 
opinions  of  some  theologians  are  manifestly  affected.     It 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      269 

is  urged  that  God,  being  unconditioned  and  absolute, 
infinite  and  eternal,  cannot  dwell  in  any  locality,  however 
exalted,  within  the  boundary  of  space,  nor  enter  into  any 
conditions  that  bind  Him  to  time  or  times. 

The  postulate,  upon  which  this  position  rests,  is  un- 
doubted and  unquestioned  by  all  that  beheve  in  the  One 
God.  The  conclusion  drawn  from  it,  omits  one  impor- 
tant factor.  If  the  argument  were,  that  we  cannot  com- 
prehend any  method  or  mode,  by  which  the  Infinite  can 
enter  into  space,  or  the  Absolute  join  in  the  conditions 
or  relations  of  time  ;  then  the  conclusion  would  be,  not 
that  He  could  not  so  enter  and  join,  but  only  that  we 
cannot  comprehend  how  He  could.  The  first  conclusion 
is  self-destructive  ;  for  it  assumes  a  human  faculty,  hav- 
ing power  to  judge  of  the  Absolute,  the  Infinite  and  the 
Eternal ;  and  to  say  of  the  first  that  there  are  some  rela- 
tions it  cannot  enter  into,  of  the  second  that  there  are 
some  bounds  from  which  it  is  shut  out,  and  of  the  third 
that  it  is  excluded  from  time. 

Some,  assuming  the  above  first  conclusion,  have  ar- 
gued that  the  ascension  of  our  Lord  was  not  to  an  ex- 
alted place  where  God  sits  above  the  Universe;  but 
rather  into  that  condition  of  the  Godhead  whereby  He  is 
superior  to  all  conditions  of  space  and  time.  As  Jesus 
carried  His  human  nature  with  Him,  it  follows  that  the 
humanity  was  not  merely  thro'  its  Divine  Person  joined  to 
the  Father,  but  actually,  .in  itself,  was  made  capable  of  in- 
finity and  eternity.  As  these  are  Divine  attributes,  they 
can  be  possessed  only  by  the  Divine  essence.  Hence 
follows  inevitably  the  self-contradictory  conclusion,  that 
the  humanity  of  Jesus  was  actually  transformed  into  the 
Divine  substance  ! 

This  is  not  only  unsupported  by  revelation,  but  is  in 
itself  an  evident  philosophic  absurdity. 


270      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

"Where  then  is  the  Heaven  to  which  Jesus  ascended, 
wherein  now  His  person  is  manifest,  in  both  Divine  and 
human  substance  ;  where  He  maketh  intercession  ;  and 
whence  He  will  return,  in  like  manner  as  He  was  seen  to 
go? 

It  is  not  necessary  to  give  an  answer  to  this  question, 
involving  definite  locations ;  any  more  than  it  is  neces- 
sary to  name  any  particular  time  for  Christ's  Second 
Advent.  All  we  know  positively  is  that  the  Infinite  Son 
of  the  Infinite  Father  has  condescended  to  lay  hold  of 
the  finite  universe,  by  means  of  His  Incarnation  ;  and 
that  "  being  made  man  "  he  has  entered  into  the  tempo- 
ral relations  incident  to  created  humanity.  There  may 
be  no  end  to  the  life  time  of  humanity,  but  it  must  have 
had  a  beginning,  nor  can  it  ever  cease  to  stand  in  due 
relation  to  this  beginning.  Only  the  Divine  essence  is 
without  beginning,  and  therefore  without  relations  of 
succession.  Man  may  be  everlasting,  but  God  only  is 
eternal.  Man  may  rove  through  the  utmost  bounds  of 
space.     God  only  is  infinite. 

Hence  the  Ascension  into  Heaven,  including  the  ascen- 
sion of  the  human  nature,  does  not  conflict  with  the 
common  idea  of  all  ages  and  nations  nor  with  the  literal 
Scriptures,  in  that  consentient  opinion  which  pictures 
Heaven  as  some  exalted  place  with  countless  gradations, 
in  whose  centre  is  the  throne  of  God  manifest ;  i.e.  of 
God,  as  He  chooses  to  display  Himself  to  His  creatures. 

All  philosophy  is  barren  of  the  link  that  joins  the  seen 
and  the  unseen,  the  finite  and  the  infinite,  the  temporal 
and  the  eternal.  AU  philosophy  reveals,  sometimes  even 
confesses,  never  can  give  ground  to  deny,  the  necessity 
of  this  link.  Man  of  course  cannot  forge  it,  because  his 
limit  is  the  boundary^  of  the  universe,  and  this  link  joins 
that  boundary  with  the  Beyond.     Hence  we  can  easily 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      271 

conceive  of  Heaven  as  located  just  on  tliis  boundary, 
stretcliing  away  Godward  into  the  Beyond,  and  reaching 
forth  Christward  into  and  through  all  creation. 

The  humanity  of  Jesus,  resting  and  interceding  and 
"waiting  in  this  Heaven  of  Heavens  has  the  whole  Uni- 
verse present  to  Him.  His  person  therefore  is  present 
throughout  the  Universe.  His  person  includes  His  hu- 
manity. Every  portion  of  the  Universe,  in  all  time,  is 
therefore  present  to  His  humanity.  The  presence  which 
Jesus  promised  to  His  disciples  *'unto  the  end  of  the 
world,"  is  a  personal  presence,  including  the  whole 
Christ,  as  He  now  is  incarnate  at  God's  right  hand  ;  the 
presence  of  the  Godman,  the  King  of  Kings,  the  Great 
High  Priest. 

All  this  we  know,  but  we  know  no  more.  We  cannot 
reason  from  this  as  a  postulate,  because  the  presence  of 
Jesus,  in  Heaven  and  in  the  whole  universe,  depends  upon 
the  Divinity  that  is  His,  and  to  which  His  humanity  is 
joined.  "We  cannot,  as  has  been  often  shown,  argue 
positively  from  the  Divine  essence  because  we  cannot 
comprehend  it.  The  presence  of  Cheist  is  revealed. 
Only  as  it  is  revealed  can  we  believe  and  accept  it.  The 
full  extent  of  that  revelation  however  is  given  us  to 
profit  withal.  They  who  commune  with  Jesus,  are  in 
actual  union  with  Him,  as  He  stands  at  God's  right  hand, 
upholding  the  Universe  and  saving  His  chosen  ones. 

One  philosophical  point  is  necessary  to  be  clearly  ap- 
prehended, and  carefully  considered  in  any  theological 
expression  of  the  presence  of  our  Lord,  through  the  Uni- 
verse, and  in  His  church.  His  presence  and  manifesta- 
tion are  both  formal  as  to  Himself,  and  efficient  only 
through  the  Holy  Spmrr.  Every  one,  who  is  interested 
in  accuracy  of  theological  language,  should  keep  clearly 
in  mind  the  well-known  philosophical  distinction  be- 


272      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

tween  the  formal  and  the  efficient  cause.  Tliougli  Jesus 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  act  in  unison,  they  never  invade  each 
other's  specific  domain  ;  nor  ever  act  apart.  Hence  the 
central  presence  of  the  Godman,  at  the  throne  of  God's 
central  manifestation  to  His  Universe  in  the  Heaven  of 
Heavens,  is  a  foiraal  presence  to  the  whole  and  to  every 
part  of  that  Universe.  The  efficiency  of  His  presence,  in 
general  and  in  every  detail,  is  in  the  hands  of  The  Com- 
forter :  "  for  He  shall  receive  of  mine  and  shall  shew  unto 
you."     S.  Jn.  XVI.  14. 

Though  hidden  from  mortal  sight,  and  though  "  after 
the  flesh  now  henceforth  know  we  Him  no  more,"  2 
Cor  V.  16  ;  yet  Jesus  standeth  at  the  right  hand  of  God 
ready  to  succor  His  Saints,  Acts  YH.  56  ;  "  He  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession,"  Heb.  VII.  25 ;  He  re- 
maineth  there  also  the  victim  of  atonement,  the  "Lamb 
in  the  midst  of  the  throne,"  "  slain  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world".     Eev.  V.  60.     XHI.  8. 

These  facts,  tho'  unexampled  in  splendor,  are  yet  not 
far  away  reaUties,  below  which  men  may  only  stand  and 
look  up  amazed.  As  already  seen,  they  touch  us  closely 
at  the  point  of  the  Incarnation ;  and  thence  lead  us  on 
and  up  by  gentle  steps,  until  our  faith  can  calmly  view 
them  in  their  loftiness  amid  heavenly  brilliancy.  We 
cannot  deny  that  men  may  be  dazzled,  and  turn  from 
them  in  confusion.  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  coldly 
analytical  mind,  in  scientific  pride,  may  courteously 
sneer  at  them,  as  myths  born  of  fancy,  and  only  fit  for 
the  play  of  the  imagination.  Moreover  the  sin  stricken, 
and  impure  may  dread  them,  and  become  "  afraid  with 
amazement.'*  Multitudes  alas  have  disregarded  them, 
do  yet  disregard  them,  and  probably  will  to  the  last. 
All  these  objections  however  do  not  shake  the  vast,  ven- 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      273 

erable,  yet  now  as  ever  impregnable  structure  and  fortress 
of  evidence,  upon  which  they  objectivel}'  stand :  neither 
has  any  other  system  of  truth  penetrated,  as  this  does, 
through  all  human  consciousness,  and  satisfied  in  detail 
and  amplitude  every  and  all  human  wants  and  aspira- 
tions. Moreover  the  germinal,  subconscious  life,  which 
every  man  knows  he  has,  but  cannot  himself  support  as 
he  could  not  originate,  is  reached  by  the  Incarnation ; 
while  the  farthest  possible,  conscious  or  unconscious, 
human  exaltation  is  provided  for  through  the  Ascension. 
The  compass  of  all  humanity  is  enclosed,  and  the  necessi- 
ties of  every  person's  perfection  reached  and  filled,  within 
the  bounds  of  the  Incarnation  on  one  side,  and  of  the 
Ascension  on  the  other. 

The  Creed  cannot  any  longer  plead,  merely  for  suffer- 
ance. It  is  already  evidently  humanity's  great  charter  of 
freedom,  man's  precious,  documentary  title  to  the  just 
privileges  of  manhood.  It  is  the  one  formula,  unmatched 
in  all  the  world,  wherein,  God  condescends  to  us,  as  we  are 
now  conditioned,  without  abating  aught  of  His  majesty  ; 
while  at  the  same  time  we  are  shown  "  The  "Way  "  of  re- 
turn back  from  our  wandering  whereby  we  may  reenter, 
without  shame  and  without  loss.  His  fatherly,  loving,  yet 
pure  presence. 

However  any  one  of  us  may  regard  or  use  the  Creed, 
its  claim  to  be  God's  Hving  Voice,  sounding  now  as  ever 
mercifully  through  the  world,  must  at  least  appear  to 
those  who  read  aright  the  story,  thus  far  declared  in  it, 
of  the  Godman.  Seated  as  man,  in  the  personality  of 
His  Divine  Sonship,  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on 
high,  our  Jesus  is  our  most  benign  Lord  and  elder 
brother.  As  the  last  Adam,  He  reaches  the  spring  and 
centre  of  our  being.  As  the  merciful  High  Priest,  He 
ever  offers  His  effective  sacrifice  and  makes  intercession 
12* 


274  THE    CREED    AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

for  US.  As  Son  of  Man,  He  sympatliizes  with  us.  As 
humanity's  head  and  Lord  paramount,  He  holds  the 
eternal  kingdom^to  the  present  assurance  of  hope,  as 
well  as  the  future  fruition  of  all  glory  and  joy — for  every 
human  person,  who  will  freely  render  the  ennobhng 
aUegiauce  due  unto  Him. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      275 


*' Jrom  \\}tnzt  @e  sljall  tome  to  ]ub%t  tl)e  quick 

anir  tl)e  kalr/* 
*'2lnjbf  gc  0l)all  tome  again  mil)  glor^  to  jitbge 

boti)  tl)e  quick  axxb  t\}t  beab,  tl)l)Ose  kingbom 

sljall  l)aDe  no  enlr." 

Unmitigated  mercy  excludes,  or  at  least  ignores  truth 
and  rigiiteousness.  Therefore  it  is  an  imperfection,  and 
impossible  to  God,  Man  could  not  receive  it,  without 
sacrificing  manUness.  It  is  possible  to  conceive  of  a 
slave  of  self-indulgence,  who  would  like  to  elect  sin  and 
reject  its  wages.  Such  a  person  might  be  willing  to 
barter  hberty  for  gain,  and  part  with  self-respect  for 
advantage.  Every  human  creature  however,  while  true 
to  his  innate  instincts,  would  scorn  profit  bought  at  the 
cost  of  soul-freedom.  Heaven  itself  would  not  be  a  home 
of  peace,  and  rest,  to  one  dragged  in  by  chains  of  slavery. 

Moreover  according  to  sound  philosophy — which,  pure 
and  simple,  is  only  crystalline  common  sense — it  is  an 
axiomatic  truth,  that  personal  freedom  is  the  essential 
condition  of  personal  existence.  Should  slavery  be  entire 
and  perpetual  reaching  not  merely  the  environment,  but 
the  whole  internal  nature,  the  person  would  cease  to  be  : 
he  would  not  exist  as  a  distinctive  I. 

Hence  manliness  involves  the  liberty  of  self-ruin.  The 
same  conscious  person,  in  His  dignity  of  godlikeness,  who 
requires  free  choice,  must,  in  his  own  vindication,  not 


276      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

merely  accept  but  demand  the  full,  natural  consequences 
of  the  election.  If  the  godlike  creature  chooses  the  Crea- 
tor, asLoKD,  he  confides  himself  with  all  temporal  and  eter- 
nal fortunes  to  God.  He  may  be  content,  and  as  a  creature 
of  limited  knowledge  should  be  content,  to  rest  in  faith 
on  the  wiU  and  word  of  God.  Not  being  able  to  calcu- 
late the  consequences  of  his  doings,  misdoings,  and  omis- 
sions, his  last  resort  is  to  leave  consequences  in  the  hands 
of  Him  in  Whom  faith  is  placed.  While  the  details  of 
temporal  and  spiritual  fortune  cannot  be  foreseen,  nor 
provided  for  or  against — at  least  fully  and  specifically — 
by  a  creature,  finite  and  therefore  limited  in  power  and 
by  circumstances;  yet  the  unit  or  wholeness  of  his 
eternal  destiny,  is  left  to  his  own  choice  and  must  follow 
his  own  determination.  All  this  is  involved  in  the  crea- 
ture's necessity  of  being  under  lordship,  and  flows  from 
the  needful  consistency  of  liberty  in  choosing  his  lord. 

This  whole  subject  concentrates  in  personal  choice. 
As  Adam  was  free  to  choose  which  he  would  believe — God 
or  the  Serpent — so  will  and  must  every  man  exercise  his 
freedom,  and  vindicate  his  godlike  manliness,  by  choos- 
ing freely  as  Adam  did  between  the  same  persons. 
Everlasting  restoration  to  Divine  companionship  not 
only  results  to  every  one  who  will  thus  reverse  our  fore- 
father's choice ;  but,  by  virtue  of  the  Incarnation,  the 
glorious  boon  is  added  of  communion  with  God,  whereby, 
through  love,  the  human  will  spontaneously  moves, 
without  command,  coincidently  with  the  will  of  the 
Father. 

This  possibiHty  involves  its  opposite.  As  man  may 
elect  the  Lord  for  his  God,  and  therefore  be  with  Him 
forever  ;  so  may  he  also  not  elect  the  Lord  for  his  God, 
and  therefore  not  be  with  Him  forever. 

How  all  this  is  possible  on  God's  side  we  do  not  know. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      277 

and  no  man  can  discover.  It  is  beyond  human  powers 
to  perceive  clearly  how  evil  could  ever  enter  into  the 
domain  of  the  God  of  love.  We  can  only  dimly  conceive 
of  it,  not  as  an  entity  but  as  a  negation  ;  a  mere  empti- 
ness, dark  and  horrible,  where  the  rejecters  of  God  are 
rejected  by  God  ;  Whose  very  essence  of  love  is  repelled 
by  irresponsive  souls,  and  thus  made  their  own  very 
wretchedness.  It  is  one  of  the  trials  of  faith,  to  leave 
unsolved  this  "mystery  of  iniquity."  They,  who  trust 
God,  cling  with  firm  resolve  to  confidence  in  His  perfect- 
ness.  They  deal  with  sin  and  evil  as  realities,  and  wisely 
treat  them  as  they  do  other  settled  facts.  As  we  see 
them,  they  stand  together  as  cause  and  efiect.  If  they 
existed  not,  our  distinctive  glory  of  manly  freedom  could 
not  exist :  for  there  would  not  be  two  lordships  for  us 
to  choose  between.  God  will  take  care  of  His  own  con- 
sistency. It  is  wisest  for  us  to  acquiesce  in  what  is, 
using  facts  and  realities  as  we  may  while  we  have  time. 

Individual  experience  confirms  all  human  history,  in 
showing  universal  and  periodical  probation.  It  comes 
to  all  successively  in  various  forms,  and  at  last  ends. 
Time  is  full  of  opportunities  of  trial,  but  when  the  end 
has  come  trials  are  over,  and  efforts  no  longer  avail 
The  period  of  every  one's  probation,  both  with  regard  to 
special  profit  or  loss,  and  with  regard  to  the  whole  life 
account  of  profit  and  loss,  is  not  determinable  by  him- 
self. As  every  one's  fortune  involves,  or  at  least  affects 
the  fortunes  of  all  mankind,  it  is  obvious  that  the  kinds, 
limits,  and  ending  of  probation  must  be  ordered  by  One, 
Who  seeth  the  end  with  the  beginning.  Hence  the 
periods  of  any  soul's,  or  of  all  souls'  probation  are 
assigned,  and  determined  by  the  Merciful  All-wise. 

Thus  the  way  is  prepared  for  the  Judgment.  -  Man 
must  stand  before  the  judgment  seat.     His  personality 


278      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

makes  it  inevitable.  His  own  conscious  manliness  de- 
mands it.  Not  only  is  there  no  invasion  of  his  creature 
rights  in  calling  him  to  judgment,  but  they  are  allowed 
and  honored  by  the  call.  Humanity,  spontaneously  and 
with  unanimous  voice,  demands  an  open  and  free  assize  : 
only  slave-souls  wish  to  escape  it,  while  even  they,  in  the 
deep  of  their  consciousness,  must  perceive  and  confess 
its  necessity. 

This  article  of  the  Creed,  also,  puts  no  arbitrary  yoke 
on  man.  It  respects  him  thoroughly.  It  proclaims  a 
destiny,  in  full  accordance  with  manly  consciousness, 
and  altogether  in  analogy  with  history  and  experience. 
It  assures  a  final  settlement  and  grand  consummation, 
wherein  good  shall  prevail  over  evil  forever  ;  and  truth, 
that  maketh  free,  shall  be  enthroned  in  heaven  and 
earth. 

There  is  a  reverse  side  indeed  to  this  picture.  The 
reward  to  the  faithful  stands  over  against  the  award 
that  falleth  to  the  faithless.  All  however  will  be  free 
and  fair.  Every  one  will  be,  forever,  under  the  Lord  he 
has  chosen. 

Now  we  come  to  the  evidences.  They  rest,  like  the 
whole  revelation  from  God,  on  the  assured  truth  of  Jesus. 
All  Scripture,  old  and  new,  declares  not  only  the  judg- 
ments of  God  inflicted  in  earth,  on  mortals,  during  the 
progress  of  mortal  life  ;  but  they  concur  in  proclaiming 
a  single,  final  assize.  Indeed  "the  day,"  "that  da}^" 
"the  day  of  judgment  "  is  a  term  of  prophecy,  common 
to  both  Testaments.  In  view  of  the  infliction  of  their 
chosen  destiny  upon  the  wicked,  it  is  called  "  the  day  of 
wrath,"  "  the  day  of  the  Lokd's  vengeance,"  "  the  great 
and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord  "  ;  wherein  the  Judge  shall 
speak*  finally,  and  cause  to  be  executed,  once  and  forever, 
the  sentence  "depart  from  Me,  ye  that  work  iniquity," 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      279 

S.  Matt.  Vn.  23,  "  depart  from  Me  ye  cursed  into  ever- 
lasting fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels  .... 
and  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment." 
XXV.  41,  46. 

The  explanations,  accompanying  this  sentence,  show 
that  it  will  fall,  not  as  a  consequence  of  aggregated  in- 
iquity, in  which  individuals  are  caught,  and  borne  down 
together  as  by  a  resistless  flood  ;  but  as  personal  retri- 
bution for  selfishness  and  self-wiU,  that  would  not  be- 
lieve in  the  Loed  of  love — supreme  and  ever  watchful 
over  His  creatures — and  therefore  would  not  do,  faith- 
fully, works  of  charity  :  "  for  I  was  an  hungered  and  ye 
gave  Me  no  meat  ....  Lord  when  saw  we  Thee  an 
hungered,  or  athirst,  or  a  stranger  or  naked,  or  sick,  or 
in  prison,  and  did  not  miinister  unto  Thee  ?  .  .  .  .  In- 
asmuch as  ye  did  it  not  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye 
did  it  not  unto  Me."    lb.  42-45. 

"  That  day "  shall  be  a  day  of  final  reward  to  the 
righteous — not  to  the  sinless  but  to  the  penitently  faith- 
ful. To  them  also  it  wiU  be  a  personal  judgment, 
wherein  their  trust  in  the  person  of  the  Lord  shall  be 
acknowledged,  and  attested  by  the  charity  of  their  mortal 
lives.  lb.  35-40.  Their  sentence  also  shall  be  personal. 
Its  form  and  substance  will  consist  of  an  assurance  and 
gift  of  personal  reception  into  the  Father's  presence,  with 
sharing  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  *'  Come  ye  blessed  of 
My  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world."  lb.  34.  S.  Lu.  XXII.  29, 
30.     Rom.  V.  17.     2  Tim.  H.  12.     Rev.  V.  10. 

Throughout  both  Testaments,  God  is  called  "The 
Judge."  It  is  impossible  that  any  other  than  God  should 
hold  this  office,  and  exercise  this  Divine  prerogative  ;  for 
all-wisdom  only  can  encompass  the  limitless  and  endless 


280      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

complications  of  judgment  in  man  and  tlie  universe,  and 
all-power  only  execute  its  decrees.  Tlie  same  Scrip- 
ture however,  that  calls  God  "  The  Judge,"  assigns  the 
office  and  dignity  to  the  "LoRb  Jesus,"  the  "Christ," 
"the  Son  of  Man."  Is.  XI.  3.  Dan.  Vn.  13,  14.  S. 
Jn.  V.  27.     Acts  XVH.  31.     Eom.  XCV.  10. 

Jesus  proclaimed  Himself  the  Judge.  With  that  bold- 
ness which  on  fitting  occasions  He  manifested,  with  that 
daring  confidence  which  put  His  truthfulness  to  the  se- 
verest tests,  with  a  wonderfully  contrasting  harmony  of 
manly  meekness  and  bravery,  in  the  presence  of  His  ene- 
mies in  the  day  of  their  power.  He  assumed,  as  once  be- 
fore, S.  Jn.  Vin.  58,  the  very  name  Jehovah  :  *'  and 
Jesus  said  I  AM,  and  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  sitting 
on  the  right  hand  of  power,  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of 
Heaven."  S.  Mar.  XIV.  62.  S.  Matt.  XXVI.  64.  S.  Lu. 
XXH.  69.  With  Jehovah's  name.  He  claimed  also  His 
great  prerogative  :  "  When  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  in 
His  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  Him,  then  shall 
He  sit  upon  the  throne  of  His  glory :  and  before  Him 
shall  be  gathered  all  nations,  and  He  shall  separate  them, 
as  a  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats."  S. 
Matt.  XXV.  31-33. 

The  relation  of  Christ's  sonship  unto  God  reconciles 
the  Scriptures,  in  ascribing  judgment  to  God  and  yet 
also  to  Jesus.  The  unity  of  the  substance  of  The  Father 
and  The  Son,  with  their  diversities  of  person,  explain 
both  the  distinctions  and  the  harmonies.  Moreover,  the 
humanity  of  Jesus  explains  the  commission  given  Him 
to  judge  ;  while  His  Deity  assures  His  ability,  and  war- 
rants the  terms  of  original  authority  assumed  by  and 
ascribed  to  Him. 

Upon  the  whole,  on  surest  warrant  of  Holy  Scripture, 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT.      281 

which  is  the  only  existing  source  of  evidence  in  this  par- 
ticular, we  learn  that  the  final  judgment  of  all  the  world 
shall  be  spoken  and  executed  by  this  One  Saviour,  "Who 
took  our  nature,  retains  it  yet  in  Heaven,  will  come  again 
in  it  as  Judge  and  King  ;  nor  will  He  ever  lay  it  aside. 
He  will  even  retain  it  after  the  "consummation  of  all 
things."  He  will  remain  "  the  King "  of  men  forever. 
His  humiliation,  begun  on  earth,  will  be  one  of  His  rays 
of  everlasting  glory.  He  will  share  the  fortunes  of  His 
beloved  forever.  Though  nought  is  told  us — doubtless 
because  we  could  not  understand  it — of  the  ineffable 
glory  He  has,  in  and  by  personal  communion,  directly 
with  The  Father  ;  yet  we  are  assured  that  this  shall  not 
break  Him  away  ever  from  our  nature.  He  will  endure 
that  union  for  ever,  nor  shrink  from  its  final  consequence  : 
*'  Then  cometh  the  end,  when  He  shall  have  given  up  the 
kingdom  to  God  even  The  Father  ....  and  when  all 
things  shall  be  subdued  unto  Him,  then  shall  the  Sox 
also  Himself  be  subject  unto  Him,  that  put  all  things 
under  Him,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all."  1  Cor.  XV. 
24-28. 

Subject,  yet  King  forever !  "Of  His  Kingdom  there 
shall  be  no  end."  S.  Lu.  I.  33.  "I  saw  ....  one  like 
the  Son  of  Man  came  with  the  clouds  of  Heaven,  and 
came  to  the  Ancient  of  Days  ....  and  there  was  given 
Him  dominion,  and  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  peo- 
ple, nations,  and  languages  should  serve  Him  :  His  do- 
minion is  an  everlasting  dominion  which  shall  not  pass 
away,  and  His  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be  de- 
stroyed." Dan.  YH.  13-14.  God  hath  "set  (Jesus)  at 
His  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places,  far  above 
all  principality,  and  power  and  might,  and  dominion, 
and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

but  in  that  which  is  to  come."     Eph.  I  20-21.    Col.  I. 
18. 

"  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the  king- 
doms of  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Cheist,  and  He  shall  reign 
for  ever  and  ever."     Rev.  XL  15. 

Thus  the  necessary  dignity  and  glory  of  man  individ- 
ually, and  of  humanity  at  large,  are  conserved,  com- 
pleted and  fully  rounded  out  by  the  last  judgment  and 
its  consequences.  Man  answers,  every  one  for  himself. 
Eom.  XIV.  12.  He  pleads  his  own  cause.  He  sees 
the  justice,  or  confesses  the  mercy  of  his  own  sentence. 
The  condemned  are  such  on  one  ground.  Because  they 
would  not  choose  The  Lord  for  their  God  ;  because 
they  would  not  see  Jesus  in  humanity,  and  show  charity 
for  His  sake,  they  are  told  to  go  away.  They  who  are 
received,  are  they  who  endured  the  same  personal  test. 
They  have  trusted  in  the  Godman,  and  have  shown  their 
faith  by  their  works.  Personal  dignity  is  preserved 
throughout.  It  is  carried  out  equally,  in  the  free  men 
who  are  condemned  to  the  everlasting  bondage,  result- 
ing from  their  refusal  to  be  kept  free  by  Christ,  S.  Jn. 
VIII.  32-36.  1  Cor.  VH.  22.  Gal.  V.  1,  and  to  the  free- 
men who  have  made,  with  all  diligence,  their  "  calling 
and  election  sure."  2  S.  Pet.  I.  10.  A  lesser  judgment 
could  not  fulfil  the  conscious  needs  of  every  man's  free 
spirit.  Arbitrary  deliverance,  from  the  consequences  of 
the  denial  or  acceptance  of  Jesus  as  Lord,  would  be  in- 
sufferably degrading  to  man.  The  necessity  of  the 
whole  transaction  of  the  incarnation,  suffering,  death, 
resurrection,  ascension,  judgment,  and  final  glorification 
of  the  Godman  ;  is  bound  up  in  the  godlikeness  of  hu- 
manity. Not  only  is  there  no  other  "  name,"  no  other 
"way"   "truth"  and  "life",  than  that  of  Jesus;   but 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      283 

there  is  none  otlier  way  conceivable  whereby  mankind, 
with  personality  intact,  both  knowing  and  feeling  man- 
hood, could  possibly  be  saved.  Any  other  way  would 
make  salvation  a  mere  outside,  or  objective  boon,  from  a 
merely  powerful  Lord  ;  and  would  leave  us  His  everlast- 
ing slaves;  i.e.  destroy  manhood,  and  extinguish person- 
ahty.  Jesus  only  offers  salvation,  in  which  every  true 
faculty  of  every  man,  and  every  necessity  of  humanity 
are  provided  for,  and  fulfilled. 

The  final  condescension  which  He  makes,  after  the 
warfare  of  good  and  evil  shall  have  ended  and  the  con- 
summation of  all  things  been  completed,  preserves,  to 
humanity,  individually  and  collectively  forever,  its  su- 
premacy in  creation,  and  its  unrivalled  nearness  to  God. 
The  Son  also  HimseK  becomes  subject.  The  All  is  su- 
preme. The  All  is  in  His  Only  Begotten  Son.  The  Son 
of  God  remains  Son  of  Man  :  not  now  any  longer  medi- 
ator as  between  sinners  and  God,  but  everlastingly  linked 
as  Son  to  the  Father,  Whose  divine  substance  He  par- 
takes ;  and  as  Head  over  aU  things,  King  forever  over 
the  whole  body  of  mankind,  whose  humanity  is  kept  in 
and  retained  by  His  own  never  ending,  divine  person- 
ality. *'  I  in  them  and  Thou  in  Me,  that  they  may  be 
made  perfect  in  One."     S.  Jn.  XIV.  23. 

Nothing  is  told  us,  or  rather  not  much,  of  the  course 
of  nature,  during  the  endless  ages  that  shall  follow  the 
great  consummation.  The  beginning,  and  the  essential 
character  of  that  consummation  are  revealed  ;  and  these 
revelations  put  the  finial  on  the  great  structure  of  the 
unity  of  man's  mortal  histoiy.  At  the  end,  as  at  the  be- 
ginning, the  glory  and  the  greatness  and  the  blessedness 
of  man  consist  in  union  and  communion  with  God — 
person  to  person.     The  means,  by  which  this  is  effected, 


284      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

is  a  person,  both  God  and  man.  He  finally  becomes  the 
king  forever  ;  on  the  one  hand  receiving  All  from  The 
All,  and  on  the  other  imparting  to  every  co-sharer  in  hu- 
manity whatever  his  capacities  can  receive.  The  King 
remains  Divine,  and  takes  care  of  His  own  union  with  the 
rATHEK.  That  must  ever  remain  concealed.  Man  can- 
not penetrate  between  the  Two  in  One.  Attached  how- 
ever everlastingly  to  the  Godman,  all  of  His  that  human- 
ity can  receive,  to  its  utmost  and  most  specific  fulness, 
will  be  poured  constantly  forth  ;  so  that  every  one  shall 
be  filled  all  full  of  the  beauty,  and  power,  and  glory,  and 
sweetness,  and  perfectness  of  The  All,  forever. 

Here  the  second  section  of  the  Creed  closes.  The 
field  left  open  to  man's  vision  of  hope  is  at  least  unri- 
valled in  splendor.  Nothing  in  science  or  even  poetry- 
can  be  adduced  to  compare  with  a  final  kingdom,  em- 
bracing all  creation,  presided  over  by  The  Son  of  God 
and  man,  and  administered  by  the  Saints  of  the  Most 
High ;  whose  saintship  shall  have  been  determined  by 
their  own  free  choice  of  Jesus  as  their  Lord,  and  be  exer- 
cised endlessly  in  full  communion  thro'  Christ  with  God. 
Beneath  this  kingdom  "  all  things  "  expand.  Above  it  is 
only  the  Throne  of  The  Most  High. 

Not  only  is  this  picture  unrivalled,  but  its  realization 
is  necessary  to  humanity's  normal  growth,  and  develop- 
ment. Its  every  detail  comes  forth  from  the  Creed.  It 
proceeds  wholly,  from  the  facts  therein  contained.  It  is 
the  mere  expansion,  of  those  facts,  towards  fulness.  Not 
a  point  can  be  spared  by  man,  without  seK- violence  in 
the  deep  of  his  consciousness,  without  wronging  his  own 
soul  ;  while  the  whole  is  the  only  whole  in  which  he  and 
all  his  fellows  can  stand,  uncramped,  unfettered,  and 
free,  to  the  very  root  of  personal  identity,  forever. 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.'      285 


"  I  bduM  in  i\)t 
"  2lnir  3  bditvc  in  tl]c  ^otn 
gitjer  of  life/' 

Unity  of  substance,  existing  in  and  manifested  thro* 
distinction  of  persons,  is  a  familiar  fact,  variously  illus- 
trated. The  unity  of  the  substance  of  humanity — in- 
cluding material,  psychical  and  spiritual  manifestation  in 
every  individual — exists  in  innumerable  persons  :  not 
indeed  the  same  particles  of  matter  in  different  persons  ; 
nor,  on  the  other  hand,  mere  material  likeness  one  with 
another  ;  but  common  participation  and  conjunction  in 
the  humanity,  that  was  all  germinal  in  Adam,  character- 
istically complete  in  every  one  of  his  descendants,  and 
yet  one  and  entire  in  the  whole  human  organization. 
The  human  persons  differ  in  capacity,  power,  and  wis- 
dom, but  every  one  is  of  one  stock  and  altogether  man. 
Though  beyond  natural  experience,  it  is  not  beyond 
mental  conception,  that  all  human  power,  dignity,  and 
perfectness  may  be  concentrated  in  one  or  divided 
thro'  many  personal  instances.  In  this  case,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  conceive  of  the  whole,  as  suffering  diminu- 
tion, in  supplying  the  means  of  perfectness  to  the  parts. 
The  whole  source  may  be  conceived  of,  as  immeasurable. 
Hence  whatever  may  be  taken  from  it,  while  enjoying  its 
range,  may  not  diminish  its  substance. 

Human,  like  all  natural  analogies,  help  us  in  appre- 
hending God,  as  mirrors  help  in  finding  out  forms.     '  For 


286  THE   CKEED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

now  we  see  by  means  of  a  mirror,  in  similitude/  1.  Cor. 
Xm.  12.  Mirrors  reflect  images.  Realities  have  as- 
pects like  their  reflected  images.  Substantially,  how- 
ever, they  are  never  known  by  their  images.  When  per- 
son belongs  to  substance,  the  will  of  the  person  often 
modifies,  sometimes  controls,  and  generally  directs  both 
substantial  and  personal  manifestations.  Still  the  image 
is  a  true  reflection.  The  form  at  least  of  the  person, 
and  some  aspects  of  the  substance,  are  shown  in  the 
image.  This  form  and  these  aspects  will  inevitably  ap- 
pear, when  one  turns  from  the  reflection  to  view  the 
thing  reflected.  More  may  follow,  but  the  correspon- 
dence will  remain. 

Granting  therefore,  indeed  zealously  maintaining,  that 
God  cannot  be  discovered  by  human  analogies  nor  de- 
scribed within  the  compass  of  human  forms  or  ideas  ;  it 
is  nevertheless  important  and  true,  that  our  understand- 
ing of  His  revelation  of  Himself  is  helped  by  what  He 
has  written  elsewhere  than  in  The  Book.  Our  famiUar- 
ity  with  the  substantial  unity  of  humanity,  in  connection 
with  distinction  of  persons,  makes  it  possible  for  us  to 
23erceive  the  same  fact  in  the  Divine  existence  ;  and  pre- 
]3ai'es  us  to  apprehend  the  further,  and  distinctive  fact 
that,  the  Divine  substance  being  indivisible,  the  Divine 
persons  are  not  only  respectively  but  wholly  God,  not 
each  of  like  substance,  but  every  one  the  very  same  sub- 
stance. It  is  no  objection,  that  we  cannot  comprehend 
this  mode  of  existence  ;  wherein  the  Father,  the  begotten 
Son,  and  the  proceeding  SPIRIT,  each  operates  eternally, 
so  that  there  never  was  a  time  when  either  existed  alone. 
That  cause  precedes  effect  is  so  attested  in  nature,  as  to 
become  an  axiom  of  human  philosophy.  Cause  coinci- 
dent with  effect,  is  barely  conceivable  ;  and  yet  we  know 
by   "  intuitive   reason "   [Kant]    that  there  must   exist 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.      287 

somewhere  a  primordial  unity  of  self-sufficient  Omnipo- 
tence, in  wliicli  cause  and  effect,  beginning  and  ending, 
source  and  proceeding,  origin  and  succession,  are — as 
language  only  can  express  it — contemporaneous,  coinci- 
dent, coefficient,  coiinited,  one  ;  and  this  not  by  confu- 
sion, but  by  distinction  too  vast  for  creatures  to  encom- 
pass, and  unity  too  delicate  for  creatures  to  discern. 
They  can  know  it  by  faith. 

Whatever  consistency  we  are  capable  of  apprehending, 
altho'  it  far  exceed  our  comprehension,  may  yet  be  true 
of  God.  We  cannot  comprehend  God,  We  cannot  even 
comprehend  our  own  subconscious  life.  Its  germ  with 
its  assimilations  lie  beyond  our  wills,  and  below  our 
deepest  introspection.  Yet  we  believe  in  our  life,  and 
use  it  from  the  first  layer  of  consciousness  upward  to- 
wards any  or  all  possible  developments.  Much  less  can 
we  comprehend  the  Lokd  and  Giver  of  Life.  We  can 
only  perceive  Him,  when  and  where  and  how  He  emerges 
in  His  works,  reveals  Himself  in  His  words,  imparts  His 
grace,  or  addresses  us  in  person. 

Primarily  therefore  we  can  know  God,  only  as  He  makes 
Himself  known ;  and  when  revealed  we  can  only  right- 
fully require  that  His  word  shall  be  consistent,  in  and 
throughout  both  nature  and  revelation.  We  may  ask, 
not  that  the  image  reflected  in  His  works  shall  be  God, 
or  even  show  The  All ;  but  only,  that  what  it  does  reflect 
concerning  Him  shall  coincide,  essentially,  with  what  is 
seen  and  heard  directly  from  Him.  The  possibility  of 
direct  revelation  is  suggested  in  the  existence  and  ca- 
pacity of  human  language  *  ;  while  the  personal  owner- 

*  "  No  langnage  has  yet  been  found  into  which,  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  translate  the  Lord's  Prayer." — F.  Max  Muller,  Orig.  and 
Growth  Relig.,  p.  69.     N.  Y.,  1879. 


2SS      THE  CEEED  AWD   MODERN  THOUGHT. 

shiiD  of  his  own  tongue,  by  man,  suggests  that  God  also 
speaks  as  He  wills.  Our  confidence  in  His  love  and 
mercy  is  assurance,  that  His  direct  revelation  will  con- 
tain all  that  can  be  of  use  to  us,  in  any  condition,  with  our 
finite  capacities.  He  may  not  make  every  fact  clear  to 
each  one's  capacity,  however  disposed  or  indisposed  that 
one  be  to  receive  the  truth  ;  but  He  will  surely  put  it  so 
that  the  earnest,  the  honest,  and  the  willing  may,  with 
due  diligence,  discover  and  learn,  to  the  fuU  extent  of 
their  needs  or  capacities. 

In  the  preceding  two  divisions  of  The  Creed,  God  The 
Father  and  God  the  Son  are  set  forth  ;  and  the  complete 
form,  in  outline  and  plan,  of  the  Divine  dealings  with 
and  designs  towards  man,  is  mapped  out.  At  this  point 
we  are  strongly  reminded  of  that  moment,  wherein  the 
form  of  man  in  "  dust  of  the  ground  "  stood  soulless  be- 
fore God.  When  Christ  ascended,  the  work  He  had 
to  do,  in  forming  and  setting  up  "  His  Body  The  Church," 
was  finished.  It  was  in  the  earth,  fully  formed  but  not 
yet  vivified. 

AVhile  far  from  presuming  to  judge,  as  to  the  necessity 
of  another  and  further  manifestation  of  God,  are  we  not 
at  least  prepared  to  hear  of  a  further  manifestation? 
Having  perceived  and  adored  a  duality  in  the  Godhead, 
can  we  demur  when  such  a  department,  as  that  of  the 
vivification  of  all  things,  is  found  under  its  own  personal 
Lord  ?  Must  we  not  simply  accept  such  a  fact,  if  it  be 
revealed  ? 

Popular  science,  indeed,  assumes  that  the  processions 
in  all  nature  are  impersonal.  They  are  called  natural 
forces.  Their  laws  are  studied,  and  learned  ;  and,  when 
formulated,  the  result  is  named  generically  "science.'* 
The  science  of  astronomy,  for  instance,  is  not  a  mere 
accumulation  of  facts,  but  of  facts  that  stand  in  harmo- 


THE  CSEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.      289 

nious  relation  to  one  another  through  the  laws  of  mo- 
tion, and  of  gravity.  Throughout  the  sciences,  when 
any  "force"  is  discovered,  its  consistency  and  correla- 
tion are  assumed,  nor  is  the  assumption  ever  rebuked 
by  facts.  Force  indeed  may  meet  force.  Hence  forces 
may  modify,  or  even  counteract  each  other ;  but  the 
equivalents  are  always  reciprocally  equal.  There  is  a 
complete  harmony  or  full  compensation,  in  all  the  pro- 
cessions of  force  in  the  material  universe. 

Note  however  the  next  step  of  "  science  "  ! 

It  is  assumed,  as  if  a  point  unquestionable,  that  na- 
ture's forces  are  mere  evolutions  or  emanations  of  power. 
The  attractions  of  the  magnet  or  the  outflow  of  heat 
from  fire,  or  any  other  material  effect  of  an  apparently 
material  cause,  is  confidently  described  as  a  property  of 
the  particular  matter  or  of  its  condition. 

Nothing  of  all  this  is  proved  by  science  ;  nor  can  it  be 
until  some  fine  test  can  be  constructed,  which  shall  catch 
magnetism  between  the  magnet  and  its  object,  or  heat 
between  the  motion  it  causes  and  the  resultant  sensa- 
tion, and  subject  either  not  to  another  division,  but  to  a 
final  and  ultimate  analysis,  such  as  will  show  it  as  it  is. 
This,  being  the  one  unattainable  centre  of  all  knowledge, 
is  unattainable  here.  Hence  the  talk  of  science  about 
the  procession  of  the  forces  of  nature,  as  if  they  were 
mere  evolutions  of  necessity,  is  simply  unscientific.  We 
cannot  know  these  forces  in  themselves,  and  therefore 
can  only  form  conjectures  about  them.  It  is  just  as 
competent,  for  one  man  to  believe  that  natural  laws  are 
the  Divine  consistency  in  action  ;  as  it  is  for  another  to 
assume  that  they  are  blind  forces,  evolving  their  own  es- 
sentiahty.  The  question  does  not  belong  to  science  at 
all ;  or  at  least  will  not,  imtil  science  shall  have  opened 
an  entirely  new  field  of  research, 
13 


290      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Nor  may  metapliysics  solve  this  problem ;  for  d  priori 
it  is  certainly  as  probable  that  there  is  a  great  supreme 
power,  ruling  all  the  universe  and  acting  through  every 
detail  or  incident,  as  that  matter  governs  its  0"svn  prop- 
erties, or  that  force  is  self  evolute. 

The  operations  in  the  universe  of  motion,  and  life, 
and  those  of  all  "  force  "  or  energy  may,  for  aught  man 
can  say  or  gainsay,  be  simply  the  personal  action  of  the 
Ever  Present  Supreme  ;  to  Whom  nothing  can  be  great 
and  nothing  small,  nothing  remote,  and  nothing  innu- 
merable. "We  may  call  these  Divine  operations,  by  the 
common  terms  "  life "  and  *' force"  or  energy.  When 
we  do  so,  the  scientific  fallacy  is  not  always  absent  from 
our  minds.  We  are  in  danger  of  thinking  them  both  to 
be  abstract  influences,  mere  impereonal  emanations.  In 
this  we  err  presumptuously,  and  therefore  unwisely. 
Nor  does  it  relieve  us,  when  we  discover  that  the  "  wise 
men  of  this  world"  are  thinking  with  us.  Neither 
should  it  disturb  us,  if  they  refuse  to  think  otherwise. 
The  fact  is  a  fact  nevertheless,  that  the  procession  of 
life  and  force,  through  the  universe,  is  indiscoverable  by 
human  investigation  ;  and  consequently,  if  known  at  all, 
must  be  revealed. 

We  do  not  care  to  enter  into  any  argument,  drawn 
from  any  human  conceptions  of  God,  respecting  the 
probabilities  of  the  Divine  procession.  We  will  not  even 
urge,  that  it  would  be  much  more  in  accordance  with 
the  Divine-personality,  if  His  outgoings  through  the 
Universe  should  be  personal,  and  not  in  the  form  of  ab- 
stract life  and  force.  We  will  not  even  urge  that  ab- 
stract life  and  force  are  mere  empty  names,  of  meaning- 
less things.  We  should  be  content  to  turn  to  the  only 
source  of  super-human  knowledge,  and  inquire  what  thQ 
Book  of  God  tells  of  the  Divine  procession, 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      291 

We  do  however  claim  beforehand  that  God,  The  All, 
being  already  known,  as  person,  even  as  Fathee  and  Son, 
may  certainly  be  still  further  personal.  He  may  admin- 
ister universal  life  and  force  through  a  Third  Person,  co- 
essential,  coequal,  distinct  in  personality,  concurrent  in 
will  and  operation,  and  cotinited  in  being  with  One  Tri- 
unity. 

Evidence  is  competent  to  establish  the  fact,  of  the  per- 
sonally distinct  existence  of  The  Divine  Spieit.  Direct 
utterance  from  God  is  the  sole,  possible  source  of  such 
evidence.  He  has  chosen  His  own  medium  of  transmit- 
ting the  record  of  that  utterance  ;  as  He  also  chose,  and 
must  in  respect  for  His  own  dignity  have  chosen,  its 
time,  place  and  mode.  We  are  competent  only  to  test 
The  Scriptures,  in  relation  to  the  Holt  Ghost,  by  such 
canons  of  criticism  as  fairly  apply  to  it.  We  may  test 
genuineness  and  authenticity,  through  every  text,  radi- 
cally ;  but  what  is  clearly  uttered  in  them,  we  must  re- 
ceive as  it  is  given;  and  add  it  to  our  store  of  knowledge, 
however  we  may  esteem  it  in  itself,  or  however  easier  it 
might  be  for  us  to  accept  false  science  and  believe  in  an 
abstract  force  instead  of  a  concrete  person. 

Man,  with  all  creation,  was  made  at  first  lifeless. 
The  earth  was  less  even  than  man,  for  it  was  formless. 
*'In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth.  And  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void  ;  and 
darkness  upon  the  face  of  the  deep".  Gen.  I.  1-2. 
The  very  next  words  are,  "  And  the  SpmiT  of  God  moved 
upon  the  face  of  the  waters".  3.  His  personality  is 
more  than  suggested.  The  obviously  simple  meaning  of 
the  words  reveals  a  person,  brooding  over  the  silent,  dark 
creation.  Reading  these  words,  under  the  influence  of 
later  revelation,  they  present  a  vivid  picture  of  the  Lord 
and  Giver  of  Life,  surveying  matter  with  its  vast  and 


292      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

countless  potentialities,  and  preparing  to  vivify  its  forms, 
as  the  Creator  shall  shape  them,  and  to  carry  them  on- 
ward, through  life  and  light,  to  perfectness  of  beauty 
and  power.  The  attractive  suggestiveness  of  the  coun- 
cils of  the  Godhead,  which  the  literal  earliest  Scriptures 
in  plain  terms  declare,  becomes  vivid  in  view  of  the  per- 
sonal Spirit,  moving  as  with  outstretched  wing  over  the 
void  earth,  and  preparing  to  inaugurate  time,  with  the 
motions  and  songs  of  living  creatures  at  home  in  illu- 
mined land  or  sea.  A  mere  abstraction  of  power,  effect- 
ing this,  is  the  most  dismal,  and  coldest  of  all  possible 
chaotic  conceptions.     It  is  not  what  is  here  revealed. 

In  the  subsequent  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament, 
The  Spirit  is  no  where  positively  called  a  person ;  yet 
many  passages  receive  accessions  of  vividness  and  power, 
when  we  take  them  as  speaking  of  The  Spirit  as  a  person. 
The  mournful  tone  of  wearied  patience,  with  which  the 
first  prevalence  of  wickedness  is  mentioned  by  the  mer- 
ciful yet  consistent  and  just  God,  sets  forth  to  those  who 
wiU  see  it  the  same  brooding  Spirit,  striving  lovingly 
jvith  perverse  mankind,  yet  not  yielding  too  far  to  per- 
sonal pity,  nor  sacrificing  right  and  truth  to  mercy. 
"My  Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  Man".  Gen. 
VI.  3. 

In  the  prophet  Zechariah,  however,  there  is  one  dis- 
connected passage,  thrown  into  the  midst  of  a  vision,  by 
angelic  voice,  as  "the  word  of  the  Lord,"  which  in  direct 
terms  rebukes  the  abstract  idea.  It  contrasts  with  ab- 
straction. It  says,  "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but 
by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts  ".    TV.  6. 

Tliese  references  to  the  Old  Testament  are  preliminary 
tho'  important.  They  serve  to  show  how  its  adumbra- 
tions ai-e  in  accordance  with  the  plain  terms  of  the  New 


THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  293 

Testament,  in  relation  to  the  distinct  personality  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  They  are  not  taken  as  independent  proofs. 
They  may  be  fairly  claimed  as  adjuncts,  illustrations  and 
confirmation  of  proof,  because  they  are  capable  of  an  in- 
terpretation in  accordance  with  the  clear  announcements 
of  the  fuller  revelation.  Thus  to  this  point,  as  to  all  the 
Creed,  the  Old  Testament  contributes  the  more  or  less 
developed  types  or  foreshadowings,  of  what  the  New  Tes- 
tament presents  more  fully  evolved  and  revealed. 

The  first  mention  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, exactly  accords  with  His  first  mention  in  the  Old 
Testament.  Where  the  Creation  is  the  primary  theme, 
and  basal  fact,  He  appears  brooding,  that  He  may  inau- 
gurate life.  Where  the  Incarnation  with  the  consequent 
new-creation  is  basal,  there  the  same  life-giving  Spieit 
comes,  effecting  the  miraculous  conception.  From  the 
central  source  of  the  Godhead  the  fiat  goes  forth,  and  the 
loving  Father  looks  on.  The  self-offering  Son  descends 
to  put  into  form  the  will  of  the  Father,  by  taking  on 
Himself  the  foundation,  or  rather  into  Himself  the  root 
of  the  new  creation.  The  Blessed  Virgin  is  called  by  the 
angelic  messengei*,  and  comes  wondering  into  the  circle 
of  the  group.  Then  was  fulfilled  what  was  "  said  unto 
her.  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the 
power  of  the  Highest  shall  overshadow  thee  ".  S.  Lu.  I.  35. 
Assign  these  operations  merely  to  different  functions 
of  the  same  person,  and  only  a  vague,  remote  vastness  of 
power  comes  to  mind  ;  working  upon  the  virgin  as  flood- 
ing light  and  heat,  or  operating  dynamically  on  the  earth 
producing  here  a  flower  and  there  a  glittering  glacier. 
The  dearest  truth,  the  sweetest  and  mightiest  fact,  the 
most  pervading  and  stupendous  reahty,  even  the  assump- 
tion of  humanity  into  Deity  would  pass  out  of  the  grasp  of 
the  heart ;  to  lodge,  and  that  not  long,  in  the  cold  cham- 


294      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

bers  of  the  mind.  The  person  of  man,  ever  yearning  for 
personal  communion,  would  not  find,  in  a  merely  dpmamic 
incarnation,  a  place  for  himself. 

Let  the  group  however  be  perceived  by  man,  let  its 
harmonious  action  appear — with  persons,  communing  to- 
gether out  of  Heaven,  and  cooperating  on  earth — and 
then,  in  heart  lovingly,  in  mind  vividly,  quickened  thro* 
aU  his  personality,  he  enters  sympathetically  upon  the 
scene,  praising  God  and  calling  the  Virgin  "  blessed." 
The  worshipful  consequences  of  the  personahty  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  though  not  independent  and  much  less  ab- 
stract proofs  of  it  as  fact,  are  surely  worthy  of  considera- 
tion, as  accessories  to  proof.  The  adaptation  it  has  to  man 
as  whole  and  concrete  person,  the  way  it  enters  into  and 
fills  him,  the  outcall  it  makes  to  his  sympathies,  and  the 
infiltration  by  which  it  pervades  him  with  warmth  and 
light,  meet  all  the  wants  of  his  nature.  Power  combines 
with  sweetness.  All  that  is  strong  in  man  drinks  re- 
freshment from  the  Omnipotent  Spirit ;  while  aU  that  is 
trusting  and  loving,  instead  of  being  chilled  by  an  ab- 
straction, goes  forth  in  eager  personality  to  commune,  in 
entire  satisfaction,  with  the  embracing  and  indwelling 
personal  Spirit.  The  very  dimness  of  the  idea  of  His 
form,  helps  the  apprehension  of  the  possible  intimacy  of 
communion  with  Him.  He  appears  less  objective,  tho* 
no  less  distinctive  than  the  Father  and  the  Son.  He 
therefore  seems  nearer,  and  perhaps  as  the  life-giver  and 
link  of  renewal  of  life  is,  in  that  sense,  nearer.  He  is  not 
an  abstraction,  and  yet  not  a  defined  form.  He  is  a 
ghost,  The  Holy  Ghost  !  He  is  therefore  especially  fitted 
for  our  own  spirit's  confidence  and  trust.  Man's  spirit 
is  not  conceivable  as  form,  and  yet  it  lies  at  the  very 
spring  of  his  identity.  "With  this  distinctive  root  of  per- 
sonality, the  distinctive  Spirit  of  God  communes.     His 


THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  295 

personality  is  as  definite  as  man's  own  spirit's  radical  ex- 
istence is.  As  we  know  one,  in  primary  subconscious- 
ness, so  we  perceive  and  rejoice  in  its  communion  with 
Him,  Wlio  is  God's  Spirit. 

At  the  baptism  of  Jesus  ;  whereby,  for  the  fulfilment 
of  all  righteousness,  He,  sinless  and  pure,  received  initia- 
tion into  the  body  of  the  faithful  who  were  prepared  for 
the  coming  Kingdom  ;  there  was  another  appearance  of 
The  Spieit.  Herein  also  He  retains  His  office,  as  the  life 
giver.  From  Heaven,  the  Father's  voice  is  heard,  de- 
scending ;  out  of  the  water  the  Godman  is  coming,  "  and 
lo,  the  heavens  were  opened  unto  Him,  and  He  saw  the 
Spirit  of  God  descending  like  a  dove,  and  lighting  upon 
Him  ".  S.  Matt.  HL  16.  S.  Mar.  L  10.  Again  we  have  the 
approving  Father,  the  consenting  and  cooperating  Son, 
and  the  Spirit  sealing  and  finishing  the  whole  trans- 
action. The  idea,  the  forming,  and  the  vitalization,  three 
distinct  inseparables,  which  constitute  the  circle  of  all 
existence  in  harmony  with  the  completeness  of  every 
creation,  are  here  manifested  as  functions  of  distinct  per- 
sons. The  triunity  of  God  is,  together,  for  the  first  time 
distinctively  shown  forth.  Man's  eye  is,  this  once,  per- 
mitted to  see  that  the  divine  institutions  not  only  have 
outward  visible  signs,  but  inward  spiritual  graces  also  ; 
and  that  these  graces  are  not  abstract  favors  of  the  great 
God  of  mercy,  but  actual  immediate  and  personal  anoint- 
ings by  the  Holy  Ghost,  John's  baptism,  Hke  all  his 
work,  was  preparatory  ;  and  therefore  not  perfect  until 
supplemented.  Until  the  time  of  the  kingdom  should 
have  come,  it  was  a  rite  obhgatory  upon  all,  who  would 
faithfully  keep  up  with  the  covenant,  then  advancing 
under  Divine  revelations  and  special  calls  of  God.  Like 
every  appointment,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
this  had  its  side  towards  God,  as  well  as  its  side  towards 


296      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

man.  Man  sees  the  manifested  formal  side.  He  lias 
faith  in  the  existence,  and  some  conception  of  the  aspect 
of  the  spiritual  side.  At  the  baptism  of  Jesus  this  faith 
was  helped  by  sight.  As  then  the  visible  Spirit  showed 
that  His  presence  attends  upon  holy  rites,  making  them 
divine  ;  therefore  we  may  with  all  confidence  use  them, 
not  as  cold  forms,  but  as  forms  made  living  by  the  pre- 
sent Lord  of  life.  Whatever  theological  definition  may 
be  adopted  of  John's  baptism,  this  at  least  must  be 
granted — as  God  is  not  an  actor  of  plays,  but  a  doer  of 
realities — that  Jesus  not  only  fulfilled  an  outward  duty, 
but  was  veritably  anointed  then  and  there,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Father,  by  the  life  giving  Spirit  :  Whose 
personal  function  is  to  infuse  vitahty  into  persons,  im- 
part authority  to  office,  give  efficiency  to  appointed 
means  of  grace,  and  make  the  whole  complete. 

The  tri-personahty  of  God  was  manifested  at  the  bap- 
tism of  Jesus.  Of  the  distinction  of  the  persons  in  this 
case,  there  can  be  no  just  denial,  nor  tenable  doubt. 
Viewed  on  man's  side,  and  we  cannot  view  it  on  God's 
side,  three  distinct  appearances  are  given.  Each  opera- 
tion is  complete,  such  as  a  person  only  can  perform.  Now 
we  must  either  believe  those  persons  to  exist  distinc- 
tively, or  must  suppose  that  God  made  an  unreal  mani- 
festation. According  to  aU  human  conceptions  of  truth, 
it  would  have  been  inconsistent,  and  therefore  impossi- 
ble, for  God  to  so  manifest  Himself,  as  at  this  baptism, 
if  in  fact  His  person  were  one.  Without  venturing  on 
the  folly  of  attempting,  outside  revelation,  to  determine 
what  is  or  what  is  not  possible  with  God  ;  we  may  at 
least  claim,  that  He  would  not  have  appeared  as  three 
before  man,  unless  he  was  veritably  three.  The  alterna- 
tive is  the  half  ludicrous  half  shocking  idea,  that  abstract 
love  can  call  itself  "  I  '* ;  that  abstract  power  can  take 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      297 

visible,  tangible  form  ;  and  that  abstract  vitality  can  de- 
scend, on  gentle,  brooding  wing,  and  rest  visibly,  on  a 
visible  man. 

The  actual  deity  cf  the  Holy  Ghost  is  impHed,  and 
therefore  proved  in  His  operations  at  this  baptism.  We 
have  akeady  found  the  Son  to  be  God.  Harmony  and 
fitness  require  that  only  Deity  should  take  prominent 
part,  officially  in  a  great  transaction,  wherein  the  Father 
and  the  Son  conjointly  inaugurate  the  new  dispensation. 
It  was  the  first  visible  consecration,  before  man,  of  the 
Savioue  of  men.  It  was  the  concentration  of  prophecy  on 
Him,  of  whom  all  the  prophets  spake.  Acts  X.  43.  It 
was  the  Godman's  official  entrance  upon  the  service, 
whereby  God  and  man  were  to  become  reconciled.  It 
was  the  binding  link,  in  the  greatest  chain,  of  God's 
greatest  series  of  works.  Beyond  creation  and  pro\d- 
dence,  the  re-creation  and  regeneration  of  godlike  man 
towers,  as  the  noblest  memorial  and  monument  of  God 
in  the  universe.  Hence,  the  appearance  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  His  cooperation,  at  both  the  laying  of  the 
comer  of  this  structure  and  at  its  public  inauguration, 
at  least  suggests  His  equality  with,  as  well  as  distinction 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

In  the  grand  progression  wherein  God  reveals  Himself 
to  man,  the  Holy  Ghost  here  again  comes  forward  per- 
fecting that  revelation.  As  before,  so  now  also.  He 
manifests  Himself  the  Lord  and  giver  of  hfe.  The 
work  of  redemption  had  been  formally  completed.  The 
Prophet  had  fully  spoken  the  word  of  God.  Its  enuncia- 
tion, by  Apostles  or  messengers,  was  in  abeyance.  The 
Priest-victim  had  finished  "  by  His  one  oblation  of  Him- 
self once  offered  a  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  sacrifice  ob- 
lation and  satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world." 
The  celebration  of  the  memorial  sacrifice,  vvith  its  effi- 
13* 


298      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGnT. 

cacy  for  individuals  and  for  the  whole  body  of  the  faith- 
ful obedient,  to  continue  through  all  generations  to 
the  end  of  time,  was  also  in  abeyance.  The  King  had 
ascended,  bearing  His  humanity  with  Him,  to  the  right 
hand  of  the  Fatheb.  His  royalty,  altho'  won  in  His 
human  nature,  on  earth,  and  vindicated  before  the  Uni- 
verse, was  suffered  also  to  be  in  abeyance.  The  formal 
Gospel  was  completed,  like  the  formal  man  before  "  the 
LoED  God  .  .  .  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life  ".  Jesus  had  promised  to  send  The  Comforter — S.  Jn. 
XV.  26 — another  Comforter  yet  one  with  Himself — XTV. 
16,  18 — Who  should  set  the  seal  of  His  testimony  upon 
Jesus  and  His  truth,  XV.  26,  should  inspire  the  mem- 
ories of  the  Apostles,  XV.  27,  XIV.  26.  1.  S.  Jn.  V.  6, 
and  endue  them  "  with  power  from  on  High  ".  S.  Lu. 
XXrV".  49.  Jesus  commanded  His  Apostles  to  tarry  in 
Jerusalem.  Ten  days  they  thus  waited,  doing  only  one 
collegiate  act  and  that  a  formal  one,  in  associating  Mat- 
thias with  themselves  in  the  Apostleship.  Throughout 
this  short  period,  they  were  faithfully  waiting  for  the 
promise.  They  "  continued  with  one  accord  in  prayer 
and  supplication  with  the  women,  and  Marj^  the  Mother 
of  Jesus,  and  with  His  brethren  ".  Acts  I.  14.  This  com- 
mon prayer  showed  their  common  hope  and  trust ;  while 
their  one  official  act  was  strong  evidence  of  confidence  in 
the  j)erpetuity  of  the  mission  which  had  been  given  them, 
when  after  His  resurrection  "  Jesus  came  and  spake  unto 
them,  saying,  '  All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and 
in  earth.  Go  ye  therefore  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations, 
baptizing  ....  and  teacHng'".  S.  Matt.  XXVIH.  18, 19. 
Thus,  continuing  in  the  plain  path  of  humble  duty, 
anxious  and  wrndering  no  doubt,  and  comparing  their 
lowly  and  apparently  deserted  condition  with  their 
freshly  remembered  hopes  of  the  restoring  again  of  the 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      299 

kingdom  to  Israel,  they  came  together  for  mutual  en- 
couragement, and  walked  together  in  the  deep  mental 
darkness  that  was  the  natural  reaction  of  their  dazzling 
hopes,  not  knowing  what  the  dawn  would  show,  but 
bravely  waiting,  confident  that  light  would  come  down 
from  above.  "  And  when  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  fully 
come,  they  were  all  with  one  accord  in  one  place.  And 
suddenly  there  came  a  sound  from  Heaven  as  of  a  rushing 
mighty  wind,  and  it  filled  all  the  house  where  they  were 
sitting.  And  there  appeared  unto  them  cloven  tongues  Hke 
as  of  fire,  and  it  sat  upon  each  of  them.  And  they  were  all 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  began  to  speak  with  other 
tongues  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance  ".  Acts  H.  1-4. 

The  ordination  which  Jesus  had  given,  when  "He 
breathed  on  them  and  saith  unto  them  *  Receive  ye  the 
Holy  Ghost  ' ",  S.  Jn.  XX.  22,  was  now  not  only  sealed 
by  the  personal  confirmation  of  the  Divine  Spirit  Him- 
self, but  vivified,  made  living  and  effective,  by  His  per- 
sonal descent  upon  and  into  them.  Not  only  were  they 
different  in  character  thenceforward  ;  but  they  began  to 
exercise  the  full  powers  of  their  office,  and  soon  went 
forth  boldly  on  their  world-wide  mission.  They  bore 
brave  witness  everywhere  to  Jesus,  and  the  Resurrection. 
They  taught,  they  baptized,  they  bound  and  loosed,  S. 
Jn.  XX.  22.  1  Cor.  V.  5.  1  Tim.  I.  20,  they  celebrated 
the   Holy  Communion  in  obedience  to   the  command 

*'  Take  eat  this  is  My  body Drink  ye  all  of  it,  for 

this  is  My  blood  ".  S.  Matt.  XXVL  26-28.  They  set 
forth  the  one  great  sacrifice,  whenever,  unto  God  before 
man,  they  presented  the  high  memorial  in  obedience  to 
the  injunction  of  Jesus,  "  This  do  for  My  remembrance", 
S.  L.  XXH.  19.  1  Cor.  XL  24. 

Thus,  as  Lord  and  Giver  of  life,  the  Holy  Ghost  three 
times  manifested  Himself,  wonderfully.     Doubtless  He 


300  THE   CEEED   AND   MODEEN   THOUGHT. 

had  counselled  at  the  first  call  of  chaos  into  being  ;  but 
it  was  His  distinctive  personal  operation  that  gave  life  to 
the  forms  of  creation.  He  operated  in  the  miraculous 
conception,  effecting  the  Incarnation,  and  appeared  in 
person,  distinct  from  both  Father  and  Son,  when  He  in- 
fused the  Godman  with  the  baptismal  grace  that  opened 
and  set  into  operation  His  Mission  of  redemption  ;  and 
now,  that  mission  being  fulfilled  and  its  transmission 
down  the  ages  having  been  formally  perfected,  again  the 
Life-giver  appears  distinctively,  and  bestows  the  light 
and  life  and  vigor  of  "  power  from  on  high  ". 

Many  times  Jesus — Who  is  the  Truth — spake  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  distinguished  Him  from  both  Himself 
and  The  Father.  Not  merely  was  His  work  spoken  of 
as  Divine,  but  He  Himself,  both  directly  and  indirectly, 
mentioned  as  a  distinct  person.  S.  Jn.  XIV.  16.  XV. 
26.  XVI.  7.  St.  Lu.  XXrV.  48.  Now  this  fact  centres, 
as  all  the  facts  of  Divine  revelation  do,  in  the  truth  of 
Jesus.  As  He  is  true,  so  are  they  real  in  every  particu- 
lar assigned  or  ascribed  to  them  by  Him.  Tlie  person- 
ality of  the  Holy  Ghost  cannot  be  taken  out  of  the 
Gospel,  for  the  truth  of  Jesus  is  committed  to  it :  nor, 
for  the  same  reason,  can  His  Deity  be  questioned.  S. 
Jn.  XTV.  17.  XVL  13.  Upon  external  evidence  therefore, 
it  stands,  like  the  whole  Gospel,  impregnable.  It  is  part 
of  the  unity  of  Diviae  revelation.  It  rests  firmly  upon  a 
foundation  of  which  Jesus  is  the  comer-stone.  It  is 
attested  historically  more  than  any  other  facts  of  the 
past.  It  is  witnessed  and  confirmed  to  our  generation, 
as  to  those  of  the  past,  by  the  visible  existence  of  a  king- 
dom or  church,  that  never  could  have  come  into  existence 
without  the  facts  it  bears  witness  to,  and  never  could 
have  been  perpetuated  had  those  facts  been  doubtful  or 
in  any  particular  defective.    Thus  the  whole  truth  of  the 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      301 

Gospel  involves  the  fact  of  the  personaHty  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  and  they  both  together  stand  on  "that  Rock 
Christ",  "The  Truth." 

This  interlinking  unity  with  reciprocal  support  of  the 
parts  of  the  Gospel,  severally  strong  yet  mutually  de- 
pendent, here  again  is  referred  to,  and  its  outline  of 
proof  repeated,  because  it  attaches  to  the  Creed,  as  the 
attestation  of  every  portion,  as  well  as  the  final  seal  of 
evidence  set  to  it  all. 

Yet  further,  modem  man,  indeed  man  as  man,  man 
imiversally,  man  true  to  his  divine  image  cannot  spare 
the  fact  of  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  alter- 
native is  an  abstract  power.  The  Lord  of  Life,  as  an  ab- 
stract force  going  out  from  the  "  Great  Unknown,"  does 
not  touch  even  the  deep  of  conscious  human  affection. 
To  the  subconsciousness  of  mere  life,  it  fails  to  grant 
that  real  and  comforting  assurance,  necessary  to  peace 
of  mind  and  repose  of  soul,  by  which  we  commit  our 
own  self-insufficient  and  therefore  dependent  personality, 
in  its  germ  and  utmost  possible  development,  confidently, 
to  the  care  of  a  person  ;  or  rather  of  the  Person  in  Whom 
dwells  the  immortal  power  of  life.  Only  a  person  can 
appreciate,  and  respond  to  a  person.  Man  cannot  en- 
dure the  thought  of  losing  his  distinctive  personaHty. 
Positivists  and  their  congeners,  with  the  evil  disposed — 
content  to  bargain  for  indulgence  at  any  cost — cannot 
persuade  humanity  at  large,  even  if  their  loud  assertions 
content  themselves,  willingly  to  sacrifice  personal  identity 
for  any  possible  present  or  future  fortune.  Man  may 
throw  off  matter,  or  even  part  with  characteristics,  but 
the  essential  "I"  he  clings  to  with  aU  that  remains  true 
and  free  in  his  heart  and  mind  and  soul  and  strength. 
He  cannot  therefore  endure  the  idea  of  an  abstract  force, 
making  and  ruling  the  vital  germ  on  which  his  whole 


302      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

distinctive  being  depends.  The  yearnings  of  humanity 
are  not  proofs  perhaps  of  the  personality  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  but  they  are  responsively  concurrent  with  its 
truth.  They  show  at  least  that  the  fact — in  and  by  itself 
so  amply  attested  by  external  evidence — is  practical  in 
its  bearing  upon  us ;  so  practical  that,  without  it,  our 
deepest  consciousness  would  plunge  at  last  into  an  ice- 
bath  of  dark  abstraction  ;  while,  with  it,  our  mysterious 
subconsciousness  of  personal  life  is  satisfied ;  and,  by 
it,  our  largest  conception  of  possible  perfection  filled 
with  responsive  love.  Moreover  humanity,  saved,  re- 
united, and  harmonized  in  organic  wholeness,  cognizes 
personality  as  one  at  least  of  its  essential  elements.  Its 
harmony  depends  upon  free  personal  responsiveness. 
Humanity,  vivified  in  every  constituent  person  by  The 
Spirit  of  Truth,  secures  for  every  one  not  only  his  in- 
alienable dignity,  but  his  restfulness  in  love  and  beauty. 
Confident  that  his  distinctive  "I"  is  sustained  and  kept 
living  by  the  personal  Spieit,  the  dread  of  disintegra- 
tion is  taken  away.  Knowing  that  his  own  personality 
is  thus  secured  against  all  vicissitudes,  he  is  satisfied 
wherever  his  lot  may  be  cast,  and  restful  whatever  mem- 
bership may  be  assigned  him  in  the  one  organic  family 
of  the  saved. 

We  are  not  required  to  consider  what  might  have 
been  the  state  of  consciousness,  had  God  been  revealed 
to  us  as  a  mere  unity.  There  is  a  conceivable  possibility, 
wherein  the  creature,  standing  forever  apart  from  The 
Creator,  should  be  evermore  the  mere  recipient  of  bounty, 
and  a  merely  obedient  servant.  No  one  can  say  that  such 
a  creature  might  not  be  happy  and  content.  Man  how- 
ever could  not  be  happy  and  content,  as  might  be  such  a 
creature  :  nor  is  he  so  constituted  that  simple  happiness 
and  contentment  could,  as  a  boon,  be  so  bestowed  as  to 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      303 

satisfy  him.  That  sense  of  personality,  that  basal  I,  fol- 
lowed at  once  by  "  I  will  or  I  will  not  "  ;  all  put  him  be- 
yond those  limits,  wherein  he  can  be  forever  filled  by 
mere  gifts,  and  satisfied  by  enforced  obedience.  His 
conscious  personality,  and  the  evident  need  he  has  for 
personal  inter-change  and  communion  with  other  per- 
sons, prepares  him  to  learn  that  the  Godhead  is  capable 
in  itself  of  personal  responsiveness.  Love,  man's  ruling 
and  pervading  faculty,  is  essentially  responsive.  It  can- 
not be  a  mere  unit.  It  must  sacrifice  and  receive  sacri- 
fices. It  perfects  itself  in  unlimited  responsiveness  of 
self  sacrifice.  That  God  might  be  all  this  as  a  mere 
imit,  we  need  neither  affirm  nor  deny.  It  is  enough 
that,  as  such,  man  would  not  be  His  image.  Indeed 
such  a  God  would  be  not  only  incomprehensible  by  us, 
but  we  could  not  even  apprehend  Him.  We  cannot 
form  a  satisfactory  conception,  nor  even  a  consistent 
idea,  of  a  personal  God  as  an  absolute  unit.  Person  de- 
mands person ;  not  only  practically  but  even  ideally. 
Love  is  dead,  or  rather  is  not,  without  response.  Hence 
the  Triune  God,  pre-existent,  is  conceivable.  When 
therefore  the  Trinity  is  made  known  to  us,  it  satisfies 
our  minds  with  its  unity  of  substance  and  of  source  ; 
while  it  fills  our  hearts  by  manifesting  living,  responsive 
love,  as  part  of  its  essence,  woven  into  its  being,  and 
eternally  active  in  the  counsels  and  communion  of  The 
Father,  The  Son  and  The  Spirit. 

Not  only  may  the  wise  forever  advance  in  -Wisdom,  by 
contemplating  the  Trinity  ;  and  the  critical  find  ever 
growing  analogies,  between  the  Divine  Archetype  and 
the  human  image  ;  but  the  feeling  heart,  sensitive  as  to 
its  privacy,  jealous  for  its  dignity,  assured  of  its  inter- 
constitutional  supremacy,  yet  yearning,  in  the  conscious 
distinctiveness  of  person,  for  response  that  may  fill  and 


304  THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

satisfy  itself — can  willingly  enter  into  communion  with 
tlie  ever  communing  Three.  Man,  thus,  in  his  depths 
and  in  his  wholeness,  may  willingly  adore  the  loving 
Father  ;  rejoice  humbly  in  friendship  with  the  gracious 
Son  of  God  and  Man  ;  and  share,  through  deepest  per- 
sonal consciousness  and  widest  vital  outactions,  the  fel- 
lowship of  the  Holt  Ghost.  The  greatest  among  men 
has  thus  every  faculty  filled,  every  power  called  forth, 
and  every  longing  satisfied  ;  while  the  least,  in  his  god- 
likeness,  loves  and  trusts  and  communes,  with  less  un- 
derstanding perhaps,  but  with  fulness  of  joy. 

There  is  no  middle  ground,  between  the  Trinity  and 
a  Divine  abstraction.  A  Divine  Unit  is  an  abstraction. 
Man's  personality  is  an  ever  present,  irrepressible  rejec- 
tion of  an  abstract  God.  Such  a  god  would  be  mere 
force,  whose  creatures  must  ever  be  mere  aggregations 
of  elements,  without  any  sense  whatsoever  of  personality, 
without  any  longings  of  hope  or  yearnings  of  love.  In 
plainest  terms  the  One,  abstract  god  of  forces,  is  simply 
a  lie ;  or  else  all  creation  is  a  lie,  and  man's  own  deepest 
consciousness  is  the  deadhest  lie  of  all.  The  Tri-per- 
sonahty  of  the  Godhead  alone  satisfies  the  whole  man  ; 
the  Creed,  in  setting  it  forth,  vindicates  to  Modern 
Thought  its  own  truth,  and  speaks  to  the  human  essence, 
in  every  man,  a  voice  of  truest  sympathy  and  assurance. 
Its  fact  of  facts  goes  to  the  deep  of  subconsciousness  with 
warmth  of  love,  and  follows  reason  and  imagination  to 
their  utmost  attainment  or  reach  of  aspiration  ;  aU  along 
showing  reverence  for  human  personal  dignity,  and  re- 
sponding lovingly  to  every  question  about  the  problem 
of  life  as  it  rises  spontaneously  in  or  is  framed  reflec- 
tively by  that  irrepressible  personal  I,  which  cannot  help 
searching  all  the  known.  Indeed  beyond  the  known 
the  I  must  and  wiU  ponder  the  past,  whence  the  crea- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.      305 

ture*s  first  shadowy  consciousness  rises,  and  peer  into 
the  future  whither  its  path  is  plainly  tending.  Thought 
rests  primarily  on  the  lowest  stratum  of  subconscious- 
ness, viewing  personaHty  in  germ  ;  and  when,  having 
climbed  the  utmost  height  of  reason,  it  stands  on  the 
pinnacle  of  knowledge,  there  also  is  pei'sonality  :  indeed, 
when  poised  on  soaring  wing  at  imagination's  farthest 
height,  personality  is  held  hard  hold  of  still.  In  delving, 
and  climbing,  and  soaring,  satisfaction  is  man's  object 
of  search,  and  love  only  satisfies.  Love  assures  person- 
aHty. Love  is  in  the  essence  of  the  Godhead.  There- 
fore God — revealed  one  in  substance  yet  three  persons — 
though  mysterious,  is  a  mystery  that  man,  being  such 
as  he  is,  can  begin  with  and  end  with.  The  human 
image  stands  firmly,  upheld  by  the  inter-responsive,  re- 
ciprocally communing,  substantially  One,  loving,  tri- 
personal  God,  Creator.  The  complete  Uring  man  finds 
.  all  his  needs  anticipated  and  wants  satisfied,  in  the  loving, 
formative  and  vivifying  Preserver.  While  hope,  man's 
soul-anchor  within  the  veil,  chngs  to  personaHty ;  trusting 
in  the  future  to  be  drawn  openly  within  the  life  circuit  of 
the  personal  Fathek's  love,  the  personal  Son's  brotherhood 
and  gladly  accepted  lordship,  with  the  personal  Spirit's 
pervading,  vivifying,  and  perfecting,  ghostly  feUowship. 
Again  we  claim  that,  whatever  else  may  be  said  of  the 
Creed,  it  surely  must  be  aUowed  to  be  unrivaUed,  and 
unique,  in  reverence  for  manhood.  Its  facts  stand  pre- 
eminent and  alone.  They  reveal  a  necessity,  which  is  no 
trammel,  and  open  a  future  that  affords  ample  scope  and 
verge  enough  for  aU  men's  or  any  man's  expansion.  Its 
wonderful  perfectness  is  in  its  wonderful  simpHcity. 
Not  wealth  and  power  and  greatness,  but  love  is  its 
theme ;  and  this  love  it  shows  eternal,  by  revealing 
God  triune,  ever  reciprocating  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit. 


206      THE  OEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 


**  1X11)0   |)roreebetl)   from    2ri)e  iatl)er,   anb   ^l)t 
Son;^ 

The  mode  of  tlie  existence  of  the  Dmne  person  of  The 
Spirit,  being  naturally  indiscoverable,  is  in  some  measure 
revealed.  Its  assertion,  as  a  fact,  rests  upon  the  truth  of 
Jesus  ;  not  merely  upon  the  integrity  of  His  intentions, 
but  upon  the  amply  supported  reality  and  necessity  of 
His  complete  and  accurate  knowledge.  John  the  Bap- 
tist says  of  Him,  "  What  He  hath  seen  and  heard,  that 
He  testifieth".  S.  Jn.  HI.  32.  He  Himself  said  to  "a 
man  of  the  Pharisees,  named  Nicodemus,  a  ruler  of  the 
Jews  ",  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  We  speak  that  we  « 
do  know,  and  testify  that  we  have  seen  ",  v.  11. 

The  testimony  of  Jesus,  in  respect  to  the  mode  of  the 
existence  of  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  definite 
and  clear,  as  in  the  following  clause  of  a  sentence, 
wherein  His  distinctive  personality  and  Divinity  are  also 
plainly,  though  incidentally,  revealed  :  "  But  when  the 
Comforter  is  come.  Whom  I  will  send  unto  you  from 
the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth.  Who  proceedeth  from 
the  Father,  He  shall  testify  of  Me  ".    XV.  26. 

Procession  is  a  common  fact  in  nature.  Power,  influ- 
ence, beauty,  light,  warmth  and  even  authority  proceed 
from  innumerable,  natural  sources  ;  each  carrying  with 
it  the  whole  potency  of  its  source.  But,  procession  in 
nature  we  are  accustomed  to  regard  as  an  abstract  force. 
No  one  can  describe  an  abstract  force ;  and,  though 
many  talk  of  it  as  a  familiar  idea,  it  never  yet  has  been 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      307 

observed,  except  as  an  emanation  from  some  person,  or- 
ganism, or  form.  Still  it  is  familiar  to  us,  ideally,  as  an 
emanation ;  and,  though  abstraction  may  not  be  defi- 
nitely cognizable,  emanation  certainly  is.  It  is  a  legiti- 
mate question  therefore,  *  Whether  the  Holy  Ghost  may 
not  be  an  emanation  from  God  ;  the  outgoing  from  Him 
of  potent  Hfe,  .and  light,  and  power,  and  beauty '  ?  There 
is  no  objection  to  answering  that  d  prioiH,  man  being 
judge,  it  might  so  be.  If  it  were  further  asked,  '  Would 
not  this  simpHfy  the  Godhead  to  human  conceptions '  ? 
it  may  be  answered  that  it  would  simphfy  it  to  the 
human  mind :  but  it  must  be  added,  that  to  the  common 
human  personal  consciousness  it  would  present  an  un- 
satisfactory Lord  and  Giver  of  Life.  As  has  been  amply 
argued  already,  an  emanation,  calling  into  existence  the 
conscious  person,  the  I,  and  upholding  supporting  and 
defending  man's  person  through  the  struggle  of  mortal 
life,  and  guiding  his  hope  with  comfort,  is  not  a  satisfac- 
tory conception.  In  the  germinal  consciousness,  and 
central  potency  or  capacity,  of  our  being,  we  can  only 
repose  on  a  person.  Our  development  also  must  pro- 
ceed, in  and  by  personal  fellowship ;  while  the  fruition 
of  love,  which  alone  rounds  out  and  fills  hope,  must  be 
personal  communion  with  One,  Who,  in  the  beginning 
the  middle  and  the  fulfilment  of  personal  life,  presents 
Himself  ever  in  sympathetic  personahty. 

These  points,  however,  are  only  the  confirmations  of 
responsive  Humanity  to  a  fact,  otherwise  adequately  es- 
tablished. "  We  speak  that  we  do  know  and  testify  that 
we  have  seen ",  S.  Jn.  HL  11,  says  our  Lord  Jesus. 
Every  word  of  Him,  Who  is  "  the  Word  and  Wisdom  of 
God",  bears  weight.  The  plural  form  is  the  form  of 
authority.     "We"  means   more  than  one.     It  calls  to 


308      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

mind  the  creative  conference,  wherein  "  God  said,  Let  us 
make  man  in  our  image  ".  Gen.  I.  26.  The  Divine  con- 
sciousness is  manifested  by  Jesus.  He  exhibits  assur- 
ance that  what  He  says  is  confirmed  by  the  concurrence 
of  the  Trinity.  No  other  view  explains  His  use  of  the 
phiral.  Some  other,  or  others  were  associated  in  His 
mind,  with  Himself.  Not  men  surely,  for  no  man  stood 
on  the  same  plane  of  knowledge  with  Him  :  moreover 
His  discourse  was  of  "  heavenly  things."  Angels  could 
not  have  been  in  His  thought,  for  He  never  associates 
Himself  on  terms  of  equality  with  angels.  He  speaks 
ever  as  "the  only  begotten  Son  of  God."  In  this  in- 
stance, doubtless,  the  "  We  "  is  an  expression  of  con- 
scious oneness  with  Goix  The  unreserved  and  unhmited 
assertion  of  His  truth  and  knowledge  that  follows 
gathers,  if  possible,  added  force  and  accuracy  from  the 
evidently  thoughtful  consciousness  that  He  was  speaking, 
not  with  appeal  to  God,  but  in  actual  communion  of 
word  and  power,  as  well  as  knowledge  and  unison  of  will, 
with  God. 

Such  an  asseverator,  making  such  an  asseveration,  is 
incapable  of  mistake.  What  He  ever  says  is,  essentially 
and  always,  simply  real  and  definitely  true.  Simply  and 
definitely  He  declares  that  the  person,  the  Paraclete,  the 
Spirit  of  truth  "  proceedeth  from  the  Fathek." 

The  singular  verb  in  present  tense  is  used.  It  is  not 
'proceeded  as  if  it  were  past  and  done,  but  'proceedeth,  is 
proceeding,  ever  continuing  to  proceed.  This  is  essen- 
tial to  the  unchangeableness  of  the  Eternal  One  ;  and 
belongs  to  the  nature  of  the  Infinite.  Like  the  ever  be- 
getting, *'only  begotten  Son",  is  the  ever  proceeding 
Spirit.  Both  are  eternal.  There  is  neither  division  in 
the  sense  of  boundaries,  nor  succession  in  the  sense  of 
time,  possible  to  the  One  Absolute.     The  end  and  the 


THE   CEEED   AND   MODERN   THOTiaHT.  309 

beginning  are  to  Him  all  here  and  now  :  or  rather  His 
here  is  infinite,  and  His  now  is  without  beginning  or  end. 
All  this  we  hold  in  apprehension.  We  need  not  try  to 
comprehend  it.  Only,  where  it  touches  us,  need  we  set 
our  thoughts  upon  it.  It  touches  us  as  creatures,  and 
vitally  concerns  us  to  know,  that  the  Lord  and  giver  of 
Life  is  eternal  in  His  personaUty. 

We  are  accustomed  to  associate  form  with  personahty. 
The  personality  of  Jesus  becomes  clearer  to  our  minds, 
through  the  human  f  onn  He  took  when  assuming  human 
nature.  It  is  possible  however  for  us  to  receive  the 
idea  of  a  person,  existing  in  spiritual  essence,  to  Whom 
no  specific  form  necessarily  belongs  ;  but  in  Whom  is 
the  faculty  of  self  manifestation,  through  any  form  or 
influence  He  may  choose  to  adopt.  The  Holy  Ghost 
came  to  earth  first  and  *'  moved  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters  ".  It  is  in  our  power  to  conceive  of  Him  thus,  as 
an  unseen,  felt — not  force — but  presence,  brooding  in 
Hght  over  dark  chaos,  and  calling  forms  of  life  into  be- 
ing. He  manifested  Himself  again,  in  the  form  of  a 
dove,  when  He  descended  to  anoint  the  Savioue,  as  He 
was  coming  up  from  the  waters  of  Baptism  ;  Who  went 
forth  thence  on  His  mission,  assured  of  the  gentle  pres- 
ence, in  and  with  Him,  of  the  Spirit  of  power,  through 
Whom  He  should,  as  man,  fulfil  His  work,  effect  His 
seK-sacrifice,  and  win  His  kingly  crown.  Again  the 
Spirit  appears,  mid  the  sound  of  a  rushing  mighty 
wind,  and  sat  visibly  in  form  of  "  cloven  tongues  of 
fire  "  ;  on  those  who  went  forth  thence,  inspired  to  preach 
in  various  languages  the  one,  coiinited  and  consistent 
word  of  the  Gospel.  Theu'  tongues  uttered  the  sounds, 
which  He,  in  silent  afflatus,  inspired  with  truth.  They 
spake  what  He  directed.  They  remembered,  but  He 
was  at  the  organ  of  utterance.     Thus  all  their  memory 


310  THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOTJGHT. 

and  all  their  thought  were  called  into  energetic  action, 
but  He  kept  the  portal,  that  their*  words  should  be  only 
the  truth. 

Personality  as  the  result — so  to  speak — of  procession, 
is  conceivable  ;  and  therefore  possible  for  us  to  receive  as 
a  fact.  When  duly  attested  we  must  receive  it,  or  else 
give  up  the  whole  foundation  of  all  truth.  Both  the 
personality  and  procession  rest  upon  the  Word  of  Him, 
Who  said,  "I  am  the  Truth " ;  and  of  Whom  it  was 
solemnly  averred,  "For  other  foundation  can  no  man 
lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ  ".  I  Cor.  IH. 
11. 

.  By  His  personality  the  Holy  Ghost  partakes  of  the 
Divine  substance  ;  not  by  division,  but  by  immanence. 
As  a  person,  He  transacts  the  specific  works  of  the  Lord 
of  life.  As  substantial  God,  He  is  in  the  Father — the 
Godhead's  centre — and  the  Father  proceedeth  Him. 

All  this  is  revealed,  and  only  this,  concerning  the 
mode  of  the  existence  of  the  person  of  the  Spirit. 

In  the  East  the  Creed  is  unchanged.  Its  original  form 
reads  "  Who  proceedeth  from  the  Father  ".  In  a  synod 
held  at  Toledo  (a.d.  589),  was  added  the  clause  "  and  the 
Son  ".  After  a  long  controversy,  even  in  the  West,  this 
clause  became  permanently  incorporated  in  the  Latin 
form  of  the  Creed.  It  is  asserted  that  its  final  accept- 
ance was  due  to  force,  or  at  least  pressure,  brought 
royally  to  bear  upon  a  too  subservient  pope.  It  has 
never  been  accepted  by  the  Oriental  Church ;  and  it  yet 
remains,  as  one  of  the  grounds  of  the  protracted  schism 
between  the  East  and  the  West. 

No  one  claims  that  it  can  be  based  upon  the  literal 
Scriptures.  It  is  an  inference,  from  the  consubstantiality 
of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  The  form  of  the  argument 
is: 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      811 

1.  The  Father  and  the  Son  are  "  one," — as  Jesus  said 
"  €V  ",  i.e.  one  thing,  or  one  substance — infinite,  and  in- 
divisible ; 

2.  The  Holt  Ghost,  is  of  the  same  substance  ; 

3.  Therefore,  He  proceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the 
Son. 

This  argument  rests  upon  the  old  realistic  philosophy, 
which  regarded  substance  as  a  realty ;  not  merely  dis- 
tinguishable in  thought,  but  distinct  in  existence,  from 
its  manifestation.  The  counter  theory  is,  that  substance 
and  manifestation  are  coordinate,  and  inseparable. 

The  whole  discussion  however  is  philosophic,  and  be- 
longs to  the  department  of  metaphysics.  The  practically 
sufficient  answer  is  the  common  one  in  theologico-meta- 
physics,  *  that  the  mode  of  the  Divine  existence  is  in- 
comprehensible by  other  than  the  Infinite  mind ;  that 
the  finite  mind  can  only  apprehend,  i.e.  accept  and  hold 
on  to,  what  is  revealed  ;  and  therefore  is  hmited  to  the 
letter  of  revelation.*  That  letter  is,  in  the  words  of 
Jesus,  "The  Paraclete  ....  the  Spirit  of  the  truth, 
WTio  proceedeth  from  the  Father  " — . 

The  difference,  between  the  East  and  the  West,  does 
not  impair  their  agreement  upon,  and  consentient  wit- 
ness to,  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  eternal  distinction 
between  the  persons  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  :  nor  is  there  any  controversy,  as  to  the 
Father's  being  the  common  central  source  of  the  one 
Deity.  Moreover  there  is  entire  agreement  as  to .  the 
Mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost  :  He  is  sent  from  the  Father, 
hy  the  Son  !  In  Creation,  the  fiat  of  the  Father,  indu- 
cing the  -willing  executive  action  of  The  Word,  coincides 
with  the  "moving"  of  the  Spirit  ;  and  results  in  a  con- 
sistent, formal,  and  vitalized  universe.  In  Eedemption, 
also,  the  love  of  the  Father,  responded  to  by  the  offering 


312      THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

of  Himself  by  the  Son,  and  sealed  by  the  operations  of 
the  Lord  of  life,  opens  and  keeps  the  way  of  salvation, 
for  free  man  to  walk  in  to  Heaven,  if  he  will. 

The  practical  value  of  the  fact  of  the  Trinity,  in  its 
adaptation  to  the  person  of  man,  is  not  impaired  by  this 
difference  with  regard  to  the  original  procession.  In 
any  view.  He  is  still  the  ever  ready  assistant  of  every 
human  person  ;  who  accepts  for  himself  the  love  of  the 
Father,  by  seeking  it  through  the  "  one  mediator  be- 
tween God  and  men,  the  Man  Christ  Jesus  ".  1.  Tim. 
H.  5.  Whoever  accepts  the  Gospel  hears,  with  opened 
ears  in  his  spirit,  these  words  of  Jesus — living  in  all 
lands,    through    the    ages — "Let   not    your    heart  be 

troubled  ;  ye  believe  in  God,  beheve  also  in  Me 

Believe  Me  that  I  am  in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in 

Me I  mil  pray  the  Father  and  He  shall  give  you 

another  Comforter  ;  that  He  may  abide  with  you  forever  ; 
even  the  Spirit  of  truth  ;  Whom  the  world  cannot  re- 
ceive because  it  seeth  Him  not  neither  knoweth  Him  : 
but  ye  know  Him  because  He  dwelleth  with  you  and 
shall  be  in  you".  S.  Jn.  XIV.  1-17.  "Nevertheless  I 
tell  you  the  truth  ;  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go 
away  :  for  if  I  go  not  away  the  Comforter  will  not  come 
to  you  ;  but  if  I  depart  I  will  send  Him  unto  you  ". 
XVI.  7. 

All  these,  and  like  passages  among  the  recorded  words 
of  Jesus,  show  that  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son.  Something  is  revealed  in 
them,  as  to  the  relations  subsisting  among  the  persons 
of  the  Trinity.  Without  separation  from  one  another, 
in  loving  cooperation,  with  unity  of  substance  yet  dis- 
tinction of  persons,  having  entire  accordance  of  will, 
they  each  have  their  own  offices,  whose  functions  they 
each  distinctively  discharge. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      313 

Througli  this  distinction,  in  fact  and  in  operation, 
man's  manliness  is  assured.  The  intervention  of  the 
Godman  is  a  help,  without  which  man,  fallen  and  sinful, 
could  not  have  found  a  way  back  to  the  loving  God  :  he 
could  at  best  have  only  called  Him  The  Almighty,  and 
bowed  trembling  before  His  justice ;  he  never  could 
have  known  Him  as  Father  ;  his  salvation,  if  given, 
would  have  cost  him  his  manliness,  and  left  his  heart  at 
best  coldly  grateful.  Even  this  merciful  Godman,  had 
He  remained  on  earth,  would  have  been  too  potent  an 
authority  :  man  could  not  have  freely  developed  his 
manliness,  even  under  the  Gospel,  with  the  ever  present 
visible,  infallible  Head  of  the  Church,  at  hand  to  enforce 
doctrine  by  dogmatic  decrees,  and  settle  difficulties  by 
pragmatic  decisions.  This  might  have  saved  from  many 
mischievous  errors,  but  it  would  have  taken  away  the 
dignity  of  deliberation  with  freedom  of  choice,  on  which 
manhness  depends.  The  expediency  of  Christ's  depart- 
ure is  thus  apparent ;  while  the  coming  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  in  His  distinct  personality,  saves  us  from  either 
premature  judgment,  or  enforced  obedience.  His  un- 
seen action  is,  like  air  and  light,  operative,  but  not  op- 
pressive. Under  it  man — the  creature — can  pass  the 
necessarily  allotted  period  of  his  probation,  with  nothing 
to  force  his  will. 

Hence,  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  from  the 
central  and  pervading  Divine  substance,  constitutes  and 
assures  His  full  capacity  and  willingness  to  help  man  in 
his  utmost  need.  His  personal  mission,  from  the  loving 
Father  through  the  redeeming  Son,  assures  such  re- 
spect for  man's  godlikeness  ;  that,  while  He  "  helpeth 
our  infirmities",  and  "maketh  intercession  for  us  with 
groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered  ",  Rom.  XH.  26,  He 
yet  will  not  force  our  acceptance  even  of  His  good  offices, 
14  ~ 


314:      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

for  ''the  Lord  said,  'My  Spmrr  shall  not  always  strive 
with  Man'".     Gen.  VI.  3. 

However  dark  the  negative  side  of  these  positive  facts 
may  be,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that,  in  the  light  they  shed 
on  God  as  He  is  towards  free  man,  they  vindicate  the 
preeminence  of  the  creed,  as  a  charter  of  glorious  free- 
dom to  all  men  of  good  will.  If  men  choose  not  to  walk 
with  God,  they  need  neither  fear  nor  hope  to  be  forced 
against  their  choice  :  but  if  they  will  return  unto  Him, 
they  learn  from  the  Creed,  and  from  the  Creed  primarily 
and  fully,  that  they  may  do  so,  with  full  protection  to 
their  dearest  personal  liberty,  and  strongest  assurance 
of  everlasting  preservation  in  their  godlikeness. 

Moreover  the  deepest  depths  of  conscious  manliness 
are  filled  and  satisfied,  with  the  ever  present  Person,  Who 
is  light  and  life,  in  and  with  us,  secretly  communing, 
having  Divine  sympathy.  Every  true  man  knows,  in  the 
secret  centre  of  his  inexpressible  consciousness,  that  he 
is  self-insufficient,  yet  too  capacious  for  any  satisfaction 
short  of  Divine  communion.  Into  this  secret  centre,  the 
presence-person  of  The  Comforter  may  be  admitted. 
Whoever  willingly  opens  his  heart's  depths  to  Him,  and 
into  whom  He  enters,  will  find  all  his  manliness  con- 
served, all  his  faculties  filled,  and  aU  his  aspirations  as- 
sured :  while  even  those  lesser  powers,  which  the  world 
counts  greatest,  viz.  :  understanding,  reason  and  imagi- 
nation, will  be  trained  indeed  or  even  pruned,  but  they 
will  also  be  immeasurably  expanded,  and  given  to  feed 
in  immortal  surety,  on  Him  "The  Truth,"  "in  Whom 
dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily ".  Col. 
m.  9. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      315 


"illl)o  tDitl)  tl)e  Sai\)cv  anl  tl)e  Son  togetl]er  10 
tuoraljippcir  antr  glorlficb.'* 

"Worship  is  the  deepest  necessity  of  the  human  crea- 
ture. As  love  is  his  profoundest  and  largest  faculty, 
while  its  expression — upsurging  within,  and  outgoing 
towards  some  object,  able  specifically  and  fully  to  re- 
ceive and  respond — is  its  very  necessity,  even  its  normal 
and  vital  action  ;  therefore  God  only  satisfies  the  faculty, 
and  God  only  is  the  worthy  object  of  man's  unbounded 
love.  He  is  not  merely  a  just  Judge  to  be  placated,  not 
merely  the  Almighty  to  be  feared,  nor  the  Owner  of  all 
things  and  Dispenser  of  goods  to  be  supphcated  :  He  is 
all  these,  but  He  is  far  more,  and  that  "  far  more  "  is  ap- 
prehended by  the  true  worshipper.  The  oft  repeated  idea 
and  fact,  of  the  Divine  image  in  man,  comes  here  again 
into  prominence.  That  image  was  created  for  the  prime 
purpose  of  communion  with  its  antit;ype.  Its  own  nor- 
mal development,  and  progressive  enlargement  depend 
upon,  and  grow  by  conformity  to  the  original ;  and  that, 
not  by  force  or  even  by  "natural  law,"  but  by  willing 
assent  and  lo\dng  consent.  There  is  nothing  arbitrary 
in  worship.  It  is  not  enforced,  as  a  tyrant  demands 
homage  from  his  slaves.  Homage,  which  one  must  ren- 
der or  dare  not  refuse,  may  be  exacted  of  enemies.  No 
doubt  the  august  Sovereign  of  the  Universe,  while  re- 
specting the  free  creatures  He  has  made  in  suffering 
them  to  choose  their  lord,  will  take  care  that  those  who 
refuse  Him  shall  yet  honor  His  throne  by  bending  their 


316      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.^ 

proud  and  foolish  necks  before  Him,  and  by  ever  render- 
ing unto  Him  trembling  homage  ;  yet  they,  who  *'  shall 
be  willing  in  the  days  of  His  power,"  will  be  glad  wor- 
shippers. The  deep  of  all  their  natures  will  break  up, 
as  a  fountain  of  love ;  and  the  rising  stream,  taking  up 
full  barks  freighted  with  the  mind's  best  stores,  and  re- 
flecting the  forms  of  all  pure  fancies,  and  nurturing  all 
the  good  things  of  hope,  will  float  the  whole  man  joy- 
fully into  that  presence,  wherein  alone  every  faculty  can 
find  scope,  every  attainment  place,  every  aspiration  sat- 
isfaction, and  every  pure  desire  fulness  of  delight.  Nor 
will  this  complete  the  gift  of  communion  with  God.  The 
perfectness  of  it  will  be  personal  conjunction  of  heart 
with  heart ;  and  thus  man's  controlling  and  pervading 
faculty,  going  out  towards  Him  who  hath  made  him  for 
Himself,  will  find  full,  normal  exercise,  in  the  flow  and 
reflow  of  expressive  and  responsive  love. 

Worship  is  expressive  love,  and  its  acceptance  is  re- 
sponsive love.  Love  lies  low,  in  man's  nature  ;  bearing 
up  the  whole  person,  as  the  fountain  bears  the  stream, 
the  foundation  the  structure,  ot  the  root  the  tree. 
Therefore  worship,  on  man's  part,  is  the  glad  offering 
continually  of  all  he  is  unto  God  ;  while  the  response 
from  God  is  the  reflow — not  merely  the  outward  gift, 
but  the  upwelling — -of  love  divine.  Worship  is  neces- 
sary for  man's  highest  development.  It  is  the  means 
whereby  his  whole  person — ^body,  soul  and  spirit — finds 
its  freest  and  largest,  most  noble  and  most  joyful  expres- 
sion. It  is  fit  to  be  given  to  God  only.  God  only  can 
truly  receive,  and  fully  respond  to  it. 

The  Creed  takes  issue  with  Modern  Thought  upon  this 
point.  Worship  has  no  place  in  either  science  or  phi- 
losophy. Therefore  they  are  not  capable  of  answering 
{ill  the  wants  of  man,  nor  of  filling   all  his   faculties, 


THE   CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.  317 

They  fail  at  the  crucial  test.  They  cannot  satisfy  the 
heart.  They  cannot  deal  with  love.  Yet  the  heart,  or 
the  loving  faculty,  is  just  as  obvious  as  any  fact  in  na- 
ture, much  more  obvious  and  certain  than  anything  ex- 
ternal, for  it  is  a  fact  of  the  common  human  conscious- 
ness. Moreover,  it  needs  but  the  statement,  to  command 
universal  assent  to  the  position,  that  the  full  gratification 
of  the  faculty  of  loving  is  the  f uU  satisfaction  of  the  per- 
son, in  all  his  parts  and  powers.  Having  it,  he  feels  no 
need  of  anything  more  ;  or,  not  having  it,  he  feels  that 
everything  is  void. 

Now  a  finite  creature,  without  defined  capacities,  but 
ever  consciously  expanding  and  aspiring,  cannot  rest  his 
heart  confidently  on  another  finite  creature  ;  for  he  can- 
not be  assured  that  some  of  his  yearnings  and  aspirations 
w^iU  not  transcend  that  other's  powers.  Confidence 
therefore,  the  very  condition  itself  of  love's  rest  and  hence 
of  its  sure  vitality,  can  be  placed  by  the  finite  only  in  The 
Infinite.  Man's  conscious  heart-capacities  can  repose 
only  on  God, 

"Worship,  being  this  outgoing  of  personal  love  to  the 
only  One  capable  of  receiving  and  responding,  is  the  very- 
noblest  outaction  of  manhness.  Science  and  philosophy 
are  dumb  before  the  eager  questionings  and  longings  of 
the  himian  heart  Only  Christianity,  as  embodied  in  the 
Creed,  repHes ;  and  that  both  in  detail  and  fuhiess. 

Worship  towards  God,  being  so  personal,  belongs  of 
right  to  all  the  persons  of  the  Godhead.  As  there  are 
distinctions  between  the  divine  persons,  there  maybe 
distinctions  in  the  worship.  To  the  Father  may  be 
offered  the  adoration  of  loving  awe  ;  to  the  Son  the  ado- 
ration of  loving  gratitude ;  and  to  the  Spirit  adoration 
with  loving,  reverent,  deep  and  sweet  conscious  fellow- 
ship.  Yet,  while  towards  either  person  peculiar  worship 


318      THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT. 

may  be  prominently  offered ;  every  kind  will,  in  some 
measure,  belong  to  all.  Fellowship  even  wiU  be  bad 
with  the  Father,  and  gratitude  will  ever  be  due  to 
Him  and  to  tbe  Holy  Ghost  ;  while  awe  should  mingle 
with  pure  worship  whenever  and  however  it  be  offered. 
Still,  peculiar  satisfaction  and  blessedness  will  come 
through  worshipful  meditations  upon  the  distinct  per- 
sons in  the  Trinity ;  and  there  can  be  no  detraction, 
from  what  is  due  to  all,  in  rendering  unto  either  specific 
praise  or  prayer ;  or  in  seeking,  on  fit  occasions,  for  speci- 
fic communion  with  One,  and  through  that  One  with  All. 

Of  course  it  is  not  permissible  to  withhold  aught  of 
worship  due  to  any  one  of  the  Trinity :  nor  may  we  ven- 
ture to  disregard  the  relations  to  each  other  of  the 
Three-persons  as  revealed,  nor  our  relations  towards 
them.  We  may  not,  for  example,  presiune  to  ap- 
proach the  Father  directly.  Not  only  does  sin  sepa- 
rate us — so  that,  as  Jesus  said,  "No  man  cometh  unto 
the  Father,  but  by  Me  "— S.  Jn.  XTV.  6  ;  but  even  the 
natural  distance,  between  the  Infinite  and  the  finite, 
needs  the  natural  bridge  of  the  Incarnation.  The  God- 
man  only  hnks  the  Divine  nature  to  the  human,  and 
makes  it  naturally  possible  for  the  lower  to  ascend  to  the 
higher :  "  Neither  knoweth  any  man  the  Father,  save  the 
Son,  and  he  to  whom  the  Son  will  reveal  Him  ".  S.  Matt. 
XI.  27. 

Hence  the  whole  Godhead  is  to  be  worshipped  ;  none 
omitted,  and  none  chosen  to  the  exclusion  of  another, 
yet  each  may  receive  special  worship  ;  while  their  unity 
will  cause  every  special  prayer  or  hymn  of  praise  to  be, 
severally  tho'  in  \inison,  accepted. 

Glorification  is  public  honor  to  such  as  are  worthy. 
It  may  be  rendered  to  God  on  earth.     It  will  be  per- 


THE   CREED    AND   MODERN   THOTrg^/  319 

fected  on  tlie broader  fields  of  the  "  worMl^ome/*  amid^ 
the  "innumerable company  of  angels  ancr^pirits  of  just' 
men  made  perfect."  Present  and  everlasting  glory  are 
due  unto  The  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holt  Ghost. 
Each  respectively  may  be  prominently  glorified  for  what 
He  is  relatively,  and  for  what  He  does  through  the  func- 
tions pecuHar  to  His  person  and  office.  Here  also  the 
Unity  binds  the  Trinity.  The  glory  of  One  is  the  glory 
of  All.  When  on  earth  a  man  struggles  out  of  darkness 
into  light,  his  single  voice  may  rise  acceptably  through 
Jesus  "the  Light  of  the  World",  by  Him  "Who  is  the 
Lord  and  Giver  of  hfe ",  unto  Him  Who  "  is  love ". 
When  the  congregation  joins  in  prayer  and  praise  and 
eucharistic  memorial,  the  Three  appear  personally  on  the 
heavenly  scene,  which  faith  perceives,  while  the  worship- 
per, joining  the  one  chorus  of  all  saints  in  communion, 
sings,  "  therefore  with  angels  and  archangels  and  all  the 
company  of  heaven,  we  laud  and  magnify  Thy  glorious 
name  ;  evermore  praising  Thee,  and  saying  Holy,  Holy, 
Holy,  Lord  God  of  hosts,  heaven  and  eai-th  are  full  of 
Thy  glory  :  Glory  be  to  Thee,  O  Lord  Most  High  ". 

Worship  and  glorification,  duly  rendered  unto  the  Tri- 
une God,  may  be  distasteful  to  the  sin-blinded,  or  the 
world-blinded,  or  to  those  who  have  chosen  proud  Lticifer 
as  their  Lord  ;  but  the  truly  thoughtful  and  the  wise  will 
perceive,  not  only  no  humiliation  in  them,  but  rather  the 
opportunity  and  most  effective  means  of  giving  deep  ex- 
pression to  all  human  needs,  with  normal  exercise  for  all 
powers  of  spirit,  and  soul,  and  body.  As  creatures,  our 
purest  sentiments  and  deepest  affections,  our  largest  fac- 
ulties singly  and  united,  our  very  personal  self  imaged 
after  God,  can  only  be  satisfied  in  God  ;  and  that  satis- 
faction only  adequately  can,  and  therefore  must  express 
itself  in  worship  and  glorification.     The  universal  con- 


320      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

sciousness,  that  we  are  "fearfully  and  wonderfiilly 
made",  Ps.  CXXXIX.  14,  makes  adoration  necessary 
towards  Him  by  Whom,  and  after  Whose  likeness,  we  are 
made. 

Having  elsewhere  learned^  and  found  amply  proved, 
the  personality  and  deity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  this  worship 
and  glorification — needful  for  us  and  due  to  God — be- 
come due  to  the  Blessed  Spirit  also ;  Whom  with  the 
Father  and  the  Son  all  manly  persons  ought,  and  all 
saints  will,  evermore,  joyfully  worship  and  glorify. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      321 


I 


to  ho  spakt  bg  tljt  propljcta. 

Peophect  exhibits  the  glorious  preeminence  of  the 
Christianity  of  The  Creed,  over  the  whole  compass  of 
philosophy  and  the  sciences.  They  are  as  blind  towards 
the  future,  as  they  are  dumb  before  the  eagerly  question- 
ing heart  of  man.  And  yet  why  are  they  so  bhnd? 
They  pretend  to  discourse  about  the  origin  of  things, 
and  even  to  define  life  or  the  essence  of  being.  Why 
have  they  not  pushed  their  wonderful  discoveries  across 
that  little,  narrow  line  of  the  present,  beyond  which  the 
ever  receding  future  lies  hidden.  Instead  of  delving 
only  in  the  farthest  past,  and  speaking  magisterially 
where  facts  are  vague  and  continuities  difficult  to  per- 
ceive ;  why  not  put  some  of  their  great  theories  of  the 
origin  of  being  or  of  the  essence  of  Hfe  into  working 
condition,  and  make  a  map  even  of  a  little  of  the  near- 
est future  ?  It  might  be  amusing,  if  it  were  not  sad  to 
follow  the  metaphysicians,  through  their  ponderous  sys- 
tems of  obscure  reasoning,  and  find  them  all  at  last  oc- 
cupied only  in  collecting  mists  of  the  past,  and  endeav- 
oring to  shape  them  into  a  tangible  philosophy  of  being. 
Hegel,  the  boldest  and  acutest  thinker  of  them  all,  by 
his  "  Theory  of  Omnipotence  "  becomes  the  least  excusa- 
ble of  all,  for  not  uplifting  the  veil  of  the  future.  If  he 
has  truly  discovered  that  the  principle  of  "  The  Becom- 
ing ",  is  the  principle  of  all  existence  ;  why,  in  the  name 
of  common  sense,  does  he  confine  his  expositions  to  the 
past  ?  Surely  such  stupendous  wisdom,  as  can  discourse 
U* 


322  THE   CREED   JlNI)   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

about  the  essence  of  being,  ought  to  be  able  to  look  with 
clear  vision  forward,  and  show  what  this  essential  being 
shall  evolve  in  the  yet  unknown  future.  "  The  Becom- 
ing ",  if  it  be  omnipotence,  is  omniscience  as  well.  "Why 
then  do  not  its  votaries  see  its  foreward  ;  why  only,  and 
that  obscurely  its  way  in  the  past  ? 

It  is  wonderful,  or  rather  would  be  did  we  not  know 
the  effect  of  the  natural  heart  on  the  mind,  that  the  nu- 
merous and  varied  and  mighty  scholars  and  teachers  of 
Modem  Thought  have  not  demanded,  of  science  and 
metaphysics,  that  they  reveal  the  future.  They  cannot 
be  of  much  practical  use,  until  they  show  what  is  coming 
on  the  earth.  The  present,  man  can  endure  ;  the  past, 
he  can  unravel  or  forget ;  but  the  future  is  a  continual 
anxiety  to  him.  He  cannot  rest,  without  providing  for 
or  against  it ;  nor  can  he  be  satisfied,  until  he  has  rea- 
sonable assurance  of  what  it  holds  in  store. 

Now  Christianity,  alone,  answers  this  human  craving. 
UnHke  every  merely  human  system,  it  has  dared  to  com- 
mit its  credibility  to  the  test  of  the  fulfilment  of  pro- 
phecy. It  rests  upon  a  long  Hne,  or  rather  a  deep  and 
varied  foundation,  of  prophecy  ;  which  is  fuUy  attested, 
in  separate  books,  by  authors  known  to  live  ages  apart ; 
and  it  is  throughout  sealed  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  such 
sealing  only  could  be  given,  and  proved. 

The  fact,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  spake  by  the  prophets, 
is  frequently  asserted  in  the  amply  attested  written  word 
of  God.  Like  all  the  facts  of  the  Creed,  already  consid- 
ered, it  rests  upon  the  truth  of  Jesus.  He  sanctioned 
"The  Scriptures^"  not  only  by  the  comparatively  less 
impressive  witness  of  positive  assertions  of  their  truth  ; 
but  also  by  the  much  more  forcible,  incidental  reference 
to  them  in  forms  of  language  which  not  only  involves  His 
witness  to  their  verity,  but  assumes  their  authority  as  a 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      323 

point  tmquestioned  and  unquestionable.  A  few  in- 
stances are  cited  as  specimens,  "  He  that  belie veth  on 
Me,  as  the  Scripture  saith  "  etc.,  S.  Jn.  VH.  38.  "  Ye  do 
err  not  knowing  the  Scriptures".  S.  Matt.  XXII.  29. 
"  But  the  Scripture  must  be  fulfiUed  ".  S.  Mar.  XIV.  49. 
"He  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures,  the 
things  concerning  Himself".  S.  Lu.  XXIV.  27.  From 
Moses  to  Christ  constant,  positive,  direct,  or  incidental 
assertions  are  made,  of  the  inspiration  of  the  prophets 
by  the  Spirit.  "  The  Spirit  rested  upon  the  seventy  el- 
ders and  they  prophesied  ".  Num.  XI.  25.  "  David  said, 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  spake  by  me,  and  His  word  was 
on  my  tongue  ".  2  Sam.  XXTTT.  2.  "  The  Lord  God  and 
His  Spirit  hath  sent  me."  "  The  Lord  God  hath  given 
me  the  tongue  of  the  learned".  Is.  XLVXH.  16  ;  L.  4. 
"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  fell  upon  me,  and  said  unto  me 
speak  ".  Ezk.  XI.  5.  "  I  am  full  of  power  by  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord,  and  of  judgment,  and  of  might,  to  declare 
unto  Jacob,  his  trangressions,  and  to  Israel  his  sins". 
Mc.  in.  8.  "The  words  which  the  Lord  of  Hosts 
hath  sent  in  His  Spirit  by  the  former  prophets  ".  Zech. 
VIL  12.  In  the  New  Testament,  Elizabeth,  Zacharias 
and  Simeon  are  declared  to  have  been  inspired  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  John  the  Baptist,  than  whom  there  had 
"not  arisen  a  greater  prophet"  was  "filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost".  S.  Lu.  I.  15.  Jesus,  when  arguing 
against  the  Pharisees,  asks  "  How  doth  David  in  Spirit 
call  Him  Lord  ",  S.  Matt.  XXH.  43  ;  in  promising  the 
Comforter,  He  assured  His  disciples  of  prophetical  in- 
spiration, "  I  will  send  the  Comforter  .  .  .  the  Spirit  of 
truth.  He  will  guide  you  into  all  truth,  and  will  shew 
you  things  to  come".  St.  Jn.  XVI.  13.  The  Holy 
Ghost  was  with  the  apostles  at  Pentecost,  at  the  judg- 
ment on  Ananias,  at  the  separation  of  Paul  and  Barnabas 


324      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

for  a  specific  mission.  "The  Spirit  said  to  Philip  go 
near  and  join  this  chariot."  Acts  YIH.  29.  S.  Paul, 
S.  Peter,  and  S.  John,  in  direct  terms,  assert  their  inspi- 
ration by  the  Spirit.  The  closing  book  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament is  a  gorgeous  and  terrible  prophecy  of  "  things 
which  must  shortly  come  to  pass  .  .  .  sent  and  signified 
by  His  angel  unto  His  servant  John  "  Who  "  was  in  the 
Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  heard  .  .  a  great  voice  as 
of  a  trumpet,  saying  ".     Rev.  I.  1,  10. 

These  instances  are  attestations  of  the  fact,  that  the 
Holt  Ghost  spake  by  the  prophets.  Confirmations  of 
the  truth  come  through  fulfilment  of  the  things  pre- 
dicted. As  writings  the  prophecies  were  publicly 
known,  long,  sometimes  ages,  before  the  events  hap- 
pened which  they  foretold.  In  many  cases  the  prophecies 
related  to  specific  circumstances,  in  themselves  highly 
improbable,  though  when  the  time  came  signally  ful- 
filled ;  e.g.  Isaiah,  more  than  seven  hundred  years  be- 
fore CmiisT,  described  His  Divine  Conception,  His  birth, 
His  career  and  personal  characteristics.  His  rejection  by 
mankind  and  His  meek  endurance  of  it.  His  "  being 
wounded  for  our  trangressions,  bruised  for  our  iniqui- 
ties "  taking  "the  chastisement  of  our  peace  upon  Him," 
and  that  "  with  His  stripes  we  are  healed."  Is.  LHI.  6. 
The  prophet  even  foretold  the  exceedingly  improbable 
contrast,  of  a  death  among  felons  yet  a  burial  with  the 
rich  and  great :  "  He  made  His  grave  with  the  wicked, 
and  with  the  rich  in  His  death",  v.  9.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment abounds  with  ancient,  disconnected,  even  when  ut- 
tered apparently  inconsistent  prophecies  ;  of  a  suffering, 
conquering,  dishonored  and  glorified  One  Messiah.  Yet 
they  were  all  fulfilled,  alone,  in  the  occurrences  of  the 
life  of  Jesus.  These  were  amply  attested  at  the  time  ; 
having  borne,  in  a  philosophic  and  cultured  age,  the 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      325 

sternest  criticism  of  both  Jewish  hate  and  Greek  scoff- 
ing ;  and  confirmed  since  by  an  unbroken  chain,  with 
living  links  of  seeing  or  believing  and  testing  wit- 
nesses. The  authenticity  of  the  prophecies  rests  upon 
testimony,  superior  to  that  for  any  other  utterances  of 
the  past.  They  are  not  and  cannot  be  doubted.  Nor — 
except  upon  a  principle  which  would  destroy  all  credi- 
bility, viz.  :  the  d,  priori  assumption  of  their  impossibility 
i.e.  a  mere  petitio  principii — can  their  wonderful  concur- 
rence and  accuracy  be  explained  upon  any  other  theory 
that  the  reason  of  man  can  encompass,  than  that  which 
allows  their  claim  to  authority,  as  the  voice  of  God 
through  men  to  mankind.  They  do  not  compel  assent, 
because  that  would  be  interference  with  man's  dignity 
and  freedom,  and  destructive  of  his  divine  image.  They 
only  pile  up  evidence,  so  that  doubt  can  only  come 
where  beHef  is  f or ef ended  or  doubt  is  chosen.  Their 
rejection  involves  vastly  greater  critical  difficulties,  than 
their  reception.  No  additions  of  proof  could  strengthen 
them  to  those  who  love  truth  supremely  ;  while  those, 
who  have  not  this  supreme  love  of  truth  for  its  own  sake, 
must  as  the  only  alternative  invent,  or  elect  what  they 
will  or  will  not  believe.  Therefore,  their  divine  origin 
being  attested,  the  formal  fact  that  The  SpmiT  was  the 
Inspirer,  the  Divine  One  Who  spake  by  the  prophets, 
has  a  claim  to  acceptance,  which  Modem  Thought  may 
criticise  to  the  farthest  extent,  but  cannot,  upon  any  just 
canons  of  criticism,  reject. 

Besides  being  the  historic  Inspirer,  the  Holy  Ghost 
is,  in  a  specific  manner,  the  personal  inspirer  of  aU  ^vill- 
ing  hearts  and  minds  and  souls,  as  weU  as  the  living  pre- 
server of  Hfe  in  the  bodies  of  men.  This  kind  of 
influence  has  a  different  object  than  had  His  inspiration 
of  the  prophets,  historians,  poets,  and  other  holy  writers 


326  THE   OBEED   AND  MODERN   THOUGHT. 

of  the  Bible.  Tliey  were  ministers,  in  their  decrees  and 
offices,  of  tlie  Divine  covenant.  While  as  individuals, 
though  under  the  Spirit's  care,  they  were  suffered  to 
"work  out  their  own  salvation,"  through  much  weakness 
and  fault  with  many  falls  and  risings  again  ;  yet  as  offi- 
cers, either  prophets,  priests  or  kings,  they  were  guided 
officially  into  all  truth.  On  individuals,  now  as  then, 
the  Holy  Ghost  descends  ;  doing,  in  all  those  willing  to 
receive  Him,  His  peculiar  works  of  life-giving  and  en- 
lightening. He  helps  all,  who  so  desire,  to  live  with 
satisfaction  in  conscious  fellowship  with  Himself,  while 
into  them  He  pours  continually,  by  His  presence,  vitality 
and  vigor.  Their  hearts  glow,  in  the  interchange  of 
love  ;  their  minds  become  illumined,  with  heavenly  wis- 
dom ;  even  their  tongues  speak  words  which  their  own 
invention,  though  cooperating,  could  not  independently 
frame  ;  while  their  whole  being — body,  soul  and  spirit 
— receives,  and  to  some  extent  perceives  His  blessed  in- 
dwelling. Nature — so  called — works  coincidently  with 
the  Spirit  within,  upon  and  around  man  and  mankind. 
Individually,  and  all-together,  men  are  affected  by  nature, 
according  to  natural  laws.  Hence  faults  produce  evils, 
evolve  errors,  and  even  lead  to  sins  ;  imperfections  grow 
more  or  less,  according  to  one's  own  wisdom  or  unwisdom, 
watchfulness  or  neglect ;  while  the  Spirit  still  remains 
patient,  loving  and  helpful ;  though  never  doing  for  us, 
what  lies  within  the  domain  of  our  own  duty ;  never 
warding  off  from  us  those  experiences,  through  which 
we  may  learn  by  suffering  ;  and  especially  not  lightening 
those  chastisements,  which  Our  Heavenly  Father  lays 
sternly  though  lovingly  upon  His  children. 

At  the  forming  and  thi'ough  the  development  of  char- 
acter, in  those  who  choose  the  Lord  for  their  God,  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  primarily  and  continually  their  Lord  of 


tHE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT."      327 

life.  He  abides  in  the  fountain.  He  sits  at  the  root. 
He  does  not  make  the  man,  as  the  moulder  fashions  the 
clay,  or  the  graver  carves  the  image.  He  dwells  in  the 
subconscious  person,  with  the  I,  and  thence  works  up- 
ward through  all  forms  of  normal  development,  coming 
on  with  evolving  character,  expanding  His  influence  as 
the  natural  faculties  and  functions  grow,  and  thus  be- 
coming, to  and  in  the  faithful,  their  own  not  only  adored 
but  beloved  Lokd  of  life. 

This  fellowship  with  and  communion  in  The  Spirit, 
though  common  to  all  men  of  good  wiU,  is  yet  inviolably 
and  inexpressibly  private.  So  dignified  is  every  human 
creature,  that  while  in  many  perhaps  most  points  he  is 
like  his  fellow  human  mortals,  there  is  a  point  or  depth 
in  him,  where  he  personally  touches  the  Infinite  in  his 
own  way.  The  common  oneness  of  humanity  includes, 
but  leaves  intact,  distinctive  individuality.  In  this,  not 
only  "  shall  every  man  give  account  of  himself  to  God," 
but  he  must  come  also — person  with  person — into  the 
very  presence  divine,  in  order  that  his  inexpressible 
privacy  may  enjoy  normally  manhood's  great  need  of 
love.  Only  God  can  truly  know  this  depth.  Only  God 
can  still  its  yearnings.  Only  God  can  fill  and  satisfy  and 
cause  it  to  rest.  Into  this  the  Holy  Ghost  comes.  Thus 
is  man  guarded  in  his  profoundest  rights  and  needs ; 
and  thus  is  he  respected  by  God,  Who  made  him. 

There  is  a  reverse  also  to  this  picture.  The  possible 
intimacy  of  man  with  God,  with  the  fulness  of  the  satis- 
faction of  its  enjoyment,  is  in  contrast  with  the  conse- 
quences incurred  by  those  who  choose  not  to  lay  open 
themselves  to  His  indwelling.  The  mystery  of  iniquity 
penetrates  the  fount  of  human  personahty,  even  the  fount 
of  the  individual  being.  Man's  choice  determines  who 
may  indwell  the  deep  privacy  of  his  person.     If  he  will 


S28      THE  OEEED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.' 

not  have  The  Spirit  there,  he  may  keep  it  forever  a  void. 
None  else  can  enter  it.  He  himself  cannot  express  it. 
The  point  of  contact,  where  the  finite  touches  the  in- 
finite, can  only  be  reached  by  the  man  in  God.  Where 
the  norm  of  personality  palpitates  germinally  on  the 
hand,  close  to  the  heart,  of  God,  there  the  man  may  meet 
God  ;  and  thence  all  glorious,  and  good,  and  blessed 
consequences  may  be  evolved.  But,  if  not  God,  then 
nothing  shall  keep  this  primal  centre  of  life.  In  its  final 
consequence  sin  is  a  void,  an  emptiness  in  the  fountain 
of  life,  an  ever  gnawing  sense  of  nothingness,  chosen  and 
irremediable.  However  deeply  into  man  the  devil  him- 
self may  enter,  he  can  bring  with  him  only  the  infernal 
void  of  his  own  insufficiency,  to  make  more  intense  the 
human  void  in  sinful  man's  own  empty  person. 

In  the  evil  however,  no  less  than  in  the  good,  is  man's 
great  distinction  of  freedom  acknowledged  and  vindi- 
cated ;  and  this,  not  by  arbitrary  enactment — as  if  God 
could  now  make  it  otherwise  if  He  would — but  because 
man's  original  godlikeness,  given  and  guaranteed  by  the 
God  of  truth,  necessitates  his  everlasting  freedom. 
Good  of  every  kind  would  depart  from  man,  and  the  ca- 
pacity to  receive  it  die  in  him,  if  his  dignity  were  de- 
stroyed by  enforced  submission.  Both  negatively  and 
positively  therefore  the  fact  stands  out,  that  God,  "  Who 
cannot  lie  ",  will  never  even  for  good  rivet  upon  any  man 
the  chains  of  slavery  ;  while,  for  evil,  nothing  worse  can 
be  conceived  than  everlasting  estrangement  from  fellow- 
ship with  "  The  Holy  Ghost,  the  Lord  and  Giver  of  Life  " . 

In  some  sense  every  human  creature  is  a  prophet. 
He  has  at  least  the  prophetical  instinct.  Alone  among 
creatures  he  kens,  and  as  far  as  he  may  scans,  the  future. 
The  official  prophets  bear  their  messages  from  God,  but 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      329 

they  utter  them  to  the  common,  human,  prophetic  in- 
stinct. Because  every  man  asks,  '  What  am  I  ?  whither 
am  I  tending  ?  where  is  this  future  before  me  ;  and  what 
is  in  it,  for  me  and  for  mine  ? '  therefore  to  man  alone 
God's  prophets  are  sent ;  and  their  words  convey  all  the 
needful  knowledge  that  words  can  express.  Words, 
however,  are  external.  They  convey  ideas  ;  which,  pass- 
ing through  the  mind,  may  move  the  will  or  even  touch 
the  heart ;  but,  after  all,  ideas  are  impalpable  images, 
not  living  reahties.  The  prophetic  instinct  may  get 
much  learning,  or  even  wisdom,  from  the  words  of  the 
"prophets";  but  its  position  is  too  near  the  centre  of 
life,  to  be  satisfied  with  the  merely  formal  utterances  of 
truth. 

He,  Who  spake  by  the  prophets,  speaks  to  every  one's 
prophetical  instinct.  The  primary  questions,  that  spring 
up  with  the  first  human  consciousness,  and  pervade  it  all 
thi'ough  life,  always  touching  the  future,  are  answered 
by  the  Inspirer.  Here,  as  ever,  only  those  who  choose, 
*'  the  men  of  good  will "  may  hear  the  answer.  But  to 
*'  wiUing  hearers  ",  there  is  a  voice  of  God  in  the  soul  of 
man  ;  more  than  a  voice,  even  a  living  personal  presence : 
"  The  Spirit  itself  beareth  vntness  with  (or  as  the  Syriac 
version  of  N.  T.  reads,  "  And  this  Spieit  testifieth  to  ")  our 
spirit,  that  we  are  the  children  of  God  :  and  if  children  then 
heirs,  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ  ;  if  so  be 
that  we  suffer  with  Him,  that  we  may  be  also  glorified 
together."  Bom.  VHI.  16-17.  Out  of  the  deep,  of 
conscious  personality,  spring  the  questions  of  natural 
prophetic  instinct ;  and  up  from  the  same  depth,  where 
the  Spirit  indwells  faithful  men,  true  to  their  godlike- 
ness,  rises  the  response.  Question  and  answer  corre- 
spond. The  one  is  unlimited  in  search,  the  other  un- 
bounded in  depth  and  expanse.      The  faithful  learn, 


330  THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOTJGHT. 

hereby,  all  about  person  and  destiny.  The  whole  of 
need,  arising  from  the  relation  of  children  unto  God,  is 
supplied.  It  is  enough.  The  creature  cannot  even  con- 
ceive of  more.  The  person  in  all  its  fulness  may  be  sat- 
isfied in,  and  only  in,  membership  with  God  in  His  fam- 
ily. The  fortunes  of  the  possible  future  are  also  satis- 
factorily displayed.  "  Heirs  of  God  "  have  all  they  can 
purely  desire,  and  are  sure  of  the  continuance  of  their 
heritage  forever  "Joint  heirs  with  Chkist,"  have  the 
inexpressible  satisfaction  of  sharing  eternally  the  wealth 
and  kingdom  of  "The  Son  of  Man  ".  Suffering  indeed 
lies  before  them,  in  this  mortal  existence.  The  Spikit 
prophecies  always  the  truth.  He  gives  the  shadows  with 
the  lights.  Even  this  suffering  however  appeals  to  the 
heroic  sentiment,  stirs  up  loyalty  in  the  heart,  awakens 
the  soldierly  courage  that  submits  cheerfully  to  the 
duty,  or  even  longs  for  the  honor,  of  following  where 
"  the  Captain  of  our  Salvation  ",  has  marched  on  before. 

Thus  He  "  spake  by  the  prophets."  Man  cannot  afford 
to  be  without  the  treasures  stored  in  words  of  the  pro- 
phets ;  nor  can  he  be  satisfied  with  less  than  the  presence 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  indwelling  him,  and  there  sanction- 
ing the  outward  words  of  the  prophets,  with  the  seal  of 
the  witness  He  only  can  give  to  every  willing  person, 
through  and  in  the  natural,  human  instinct  of  prophecy. 

Herein  the  Creed  again  vindicates  itself.  It  is  nobly 
congenial,  sympathetic  and  true  with  man.  It  puts  no 
clog  on  any  part  of  him.  Within  and  without  it  reveres, 
and  honours  him.  Its  facts  are  living  now,  as  they  ever 
have  been,  and  ever  will  be.  Men,  to-day,  need  them, 
as  did  men  of  the  past,  and  as  will  men  of  the  future. 
They  are  the  only  series  that  bring  God  and  man  to- 
gether, while  leaving  both  normal  and  complete. 

To  Modern  Thought,  as  to  thought  in  aU  times,  the 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      331 

Creed  speaks  with  the  steady  force  of  truth.  It  asserts 
and  maintains  itself.  It  asks  no  favors.  It  stands 
forth  on  the  field  of  open  criticism.  It  stands  on  the 
impregnable  base  of  reality  and  fact.  As  it  maintains 
its  position,  and  only  as  it  does,  but  to  the  full  if  it 
does,  so  it  demands  acceptance  by  Modem  Thought,  and, 
with  that  acceptance,  allegiance  from  man  to  Him  whose 
name  it  declares. 


332      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 


**  ®l)e  ij^^ls  (!Eatl)oUc  €l)ttrcl),  tl)e  ffiommunion  of 
5lpo0toUc  d)urcl) "  ; 

One  point  Modern  Thought  treats,  as  if  it  were  settled 
to  general  satisfaction.  It  is  this  :  '  Granted  the  claims 
of  Christianity,  it  matters  little  what  visible  form  it  has. 
The  essence  of  Christianity  being  the  love  of  Jesus,  it 
matters  little  what  organization  is  adopted  for  the  com- 
mon expression  of  that  love,  or  what  order  is  followed 
in  the  promulgation  of  its  faith  *. 

The  Creed  does  not  contradict  this  dictate  ;  neither 
does  it  affirm  it.  Believers  in  the  Creed  are  at  hberty 
to  assent  or  dissent  from  it.  The  article  of  the  Creed, 
upon  The  Church,  is  not  affected  by  it.  Those  who  as- 
sent, and  those  who  dissent,  can  equally  accept  the 
Creed. 

Allowing  the  broadest  claim  of  Modem  Thought,  and 
not  disputing  the  position  that  it  is  primarily  of  little 
moment  what  particular  Church  organization  is  adopted, 
or  what  ecclesiastical  order  followed  ;  there  still  remains 
the  obvious  necessity  for  some  visible  order,  form  or 
body.  Religion  cannot  be  expressed  without  a  visible 
organization.  Common  prayer  and  praise  are  essential 
to  any  religious  body.  Revealed  religion  may  present 
something  else  than  the  duty  of  prayer  and  praise. 
"Whatever  revealed  religion  enjoins  is  obligatory  upon  all 
who  have  faith  in  God.     In  fact,  Christianity  in  its  first 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      333 

promulgation,  contained  a  commission  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  to  baptize  into  Christ,  and  to  make  the  memorial 
and  administration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist.  These  are 
obviously  not  private  duties  but  pubHc.  They  are  also 
obviously  rights  as  well  as  duties,  to  those  who  are  capa- 
ble of  receiving  them — rights  to  have  and  duties  to  ob- 
serve— .  They  are  moreover  pure  and  simple  duties  of 
administration,  intrusted  to  and  enjoined  upon  those 
authorized  to  administer. 

If  therefore  the  ver^'  broadest  allowance  be  made,  as 
to  the  non-importance,  primarily  considered,  of  any  par- 
ticular, visible  form,  or  Church  for  Christianity ;  it  still 
remains  necessary  that  it  have  some  form.  Hence  the 
question  is  now  one  of  fact,  not  one  of  fitness  according 
to  human  judgment.  The  very  non-importance  of  the 
thing  in  itself,  makes  the  obligation  universal  to  accept, 
defend,  and  be  persistently  loyal  to,  any  visible  form, 
order  or  Church  organization,  which  can  show  a  primi- 
tive title.  Whoever  believes  in  Jesus,  believes  that  He 
was,  is,  and  ever  will  be  The  Head  of  His  Church  ;  aye, 
"  The  Head  over  all  to  the  Church,  which  is  His  body, 
the  fuhiess  of  Him  that  fiUeth  all  in  aU  ".  Eph.  I.  22-23, 
He  certainly  knew,  as  all  thinking  men  confess,  and  as 
all  their  efforts  for  common  works  and  advantages  of 
every  kind  evince,  that  a  visible  organization  was  neces- 
sary, both  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  for  the 
union  of  His  people.  St.  Jn.  XVH.  20-21.  It  seems 
therefore  unquestionable,  that  Jesds  must  have  given 
some  form  of  organization  to  His  Body,  The  Church : 
and  that  having  given  it.  He  has  preserved  it  until  now. 
It  should  therefore  be  traced  through  history  ;  found 
to-day ;  and,  when  found,  receive  the  allegiance  of  all 
His  disciples. 

Modem  Thought  however  has  but  Uttle  respect  for  ex- 


334      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

temal  authority.  Whether  it  is  wise  in  this  particular, 
is  a  question  not  now  under  review.  The  fact  is  clear, 
and  the  Creed  takes  Modem  Thought  as  it  finds  it.  This 
article  of  the  Creed  has  a  history,  that  those  who  respect 
authority  may  study  with  great  advantage  to  learning, 
morals  and  faith.  Now  however  the  point  is  the  bear- 
ing of  this  article  upon  individual  and  organic  man ; 
upon  man  in  the  depth  and  expanse  of  his  personality, 
and  man  in  the  complexity,  yet  unit  of  humanity. 

Having  already  seen  the  necessity,  and  learned  the  fact 
of  an  answering  voice  from  God,  responding  to  the  sev- 
eral and  imiversal  outcall  of  men  for  light  and  truth ; 
and  having  found  in  this  answer,  not  merely  a  revelation 
of  words  but  an  organic  covenant ;  the  inevitable  next 
question  is,  'What  is  the  practical  intention  of  God's 
revelation  ;  what  design  or  designs  has  He,  in  answering 
man's  outcall ;  why,  or  for  what  purposes,  has  He  made 
Himself  known  as  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  '  ? 

It  is  obvious  that  two  parties  stand  in  presence  of  each 
other.  Each  has  a  coincident,  but  distinctive  interest  in 
view.  God  answered  man  for  His  own  sake,  as  well  as 
for  man's  sake.  He  seeks  His  own  pleasure,  in  all  His 
dealings  with  man  :  "  All  things  were  created  by  Him 
and  for  Him",  Col.  I.  16;  "For  thou  hast  created  all 
things,  and  for  Thy  pleasure  they  are  and  were  created.'* 
Rev.  IV.  11. 

This  primary  fact  includes,  but  is  never  subordinated 
to  the  correlative  fact,  that  "the  grace  of  God  that 
bringeth  salvation  to  all  men  hath  appeared  ".  Tit.  H.  11. 
The  salvation  of  man  has  been  provided  for,  and  the  ut- 
most means,  consistent  with  the  integrity  and  dignity 
of  manliness,  have  been  put  into  operation  for  the  benefit 
of  all  men ;  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave 
His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  beheveth  in  Him, 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      335 

should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life  ".  S.  Jn.  IIL 
16. 

The  pleasure  of  God  and  all  possible  good  to  man  can 
never  be  actually  separated  from  each  other.  Yet  it  is 
possible  for  men  to  fall  into  the  error  and  fault  of  setting 
one  against  the  other,  or  of  setting  the  lesser  above  the 
greater,  or  rather  setting  the  secondary  before  the  pri- 
mary. It  is  important  therefore  to  keep  both  in  view, 
always,  and  to  regard  their  due  relations. 

The  pleasure  of  God,  in  doing  good  to  man,  must  ex- 
tend to  all  the  departments  of  creation.  He  has  pleasure 
in  the  visible  universe,  as  well  as  in  the  unseen  realm  of 
spirit.  The  outward  man,  amid  surounding  men  on  the 
material  earth,  is  an  object  as  truly  regarded  by  God,  as 
are  the  "  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart  ".  The  whole 
man,  therefore,  including  all  the  constituents  of  his  per- 
son, with  all  the  essentials  of  his  federal  and  organic 
human  relations,  as  well  as  his  due  position  in  the  whole 
universe  of  matter  and  spirit,  is  the  subject  of  the  cove- 
nant. God  its  author  on  one  side,  and  man  its  subject 
on  the  other,  have  each  something  to  do  for  the  other  in 
fulfilling  the  covenant.  Not  only  has  the  Gospel — the 
good  tidings,  the  new,  supplemental  and  complete  divine 
covenant — the  utmost  possible  good  of  man  and  man- 
Idnd  in  view ;  but  it  is  equally,  nay  eminently,  its  "in- 
tent that  now  unto  the  principalities  and  powers  in 
Heavenly  places  might  be  known  by  the  church  the 
manifold  wisdom  of  God,  according  to  the  eternal  pur- 
pose which  He  purposed  in  CmiisT  Jesus  our  Lobd". 
Eph.  HI.  10,  11. 

If  men  were  spirits  merely,  dweUing  only  in  the  realm 
of  spirit,  and  having  direct  personal  communion  with  God 
Who  is  spirit,  then  the  Divine  revelation  might  be  wholly 
spiritual,  and  therefore  inorganic,  or  at  least  invisible. 


336      THE  CREED  ANT>   MODERN  THOUGHT. 

There  is  no  proof  however  that  even  in  the  spiritual  realm 
an  abstract  force  of  truth  exists,  which  has  the  power  of 
self  propagation,  with  the  faculty  of  assimilating  what- 
ever substance  it  may  require  for  the  evolution  of  any 
form  it  may  choose.  In  this  world  organism  is  always 
essential  to  propagation ;  indeed  force  of  every  known 
kind  manifests  itself  only  in  and  by  organites,  organs  or 
organism.  For  the  sake  of  philosophic  analysis  we  some- 
times talk  of  force  as  an  abstraction,  and  think  of  truth 
as  an  abstract  force  taking,  with  one  intent,  various 
forms  upon  itself ;  but  it  is  not  proved  that  any  such 
existence  is  possible,  and  it  is  certain  that  God's  revela- 
tion to  man  was  not  in  fact,  and  in  consistency  with  its 
whole  intent  could  not  be,  a  mere  congeries  of  abstract 
principles  addressed  to  man  through  his  mind  merely. 

The  glory  of  God,  before  the  visible  and  invisible  uni- 
verse, being  the  primary  intent  in  all  the  deahngs  of  God 
with  man  ;  it  becomes  evident  that  His  revelation  of  a 
covenant  must  exhibit  that  covenant  visibly  in  the 
material  universe,  as  well  as  spiritually.  Only  visibly 
and  spiritually  also  could  it  reach  the  whole  of  every 
man,  as  well  as  all  men,  in  this  mortal  existence ;  and 
provide  for  every  man  and  for  mankind  through  all  the 
possible,  future  fortunes  of  the  one  organism  of  human- 
ity. As  the  whole  man — body  soul  and  spirit — and  not 
his  soul  only,  is  God's  creature,  made  in  God's  image ; 
and  as  every  man  is  a  constituent  part  of  the  unit  of  hu- 
manity ;  therefore  man's  very  nature  requires  that  God's 
revelation  of  the  way  of  salvation  should  cover  all  his 
immutable  parts,  and  irrevocable  relations.  It  must  be 
organic,  and  it  must  be  visible  ;  as  well  as  didactic  and 
spiritually  efficient. 

From  two  words — Church  and  Ecclesia — we  get  the 
common  name   of  the   visible    organization  in  which 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      337 

God  did  embody  His  revelation.  The  historic  fact  is  in 
perfect  accord  with  the  necessities  of  the  case.  What 
God's  glory  demanded  and  man's  needs  required,  are 
fully  met,  and  only  met,  in  the  Church,  the  Ecclesia. 
The  Church  is  the  house  of  God,  hence  His  household 
or  family,  into  which,  with  all  privileges  and  glories, 
men  enter  by  "the  adoption  of  sons".  Gal.  IV.  5. 
The  Ecclesia  is  the  congregation,  the  organized  polity, 
into  which  men  are  called  out  from  the  world,  and  of 
which  they  become  and  continue  members  through  their 
own  free  choice.  1  Thes.  H.  12.  The  two  streams  of 
power  meet  and  mingle,  here  as  everywhere  else  in  the 
Divine  covenant,  as  indeed  in  all  the  mutual  relations  of 
God  and  man.  Man  chooses  and  God  accepts.  Man  is 
called,  and  coming  to  God  is  received  by  God.  The 
honour  of  man's  person,  and  the  necessities  of  his 
nature,  are  equally  conserved  ;  while  God's  supremacy  is 
maintained,  His  mercy  illustrated,  and  His  vivifying,  re- 
generative power  set  into  operation.  The  Ecclesia  is 
perfected  in  the  Church. 

The  unity  of  the  Church  is  essential  to  its  very  being. 
The  whole  idea,  of  a  Divine  revelation,  is  involved  in  the 
unity  of  the  Church.  The  one  practical  object  of  that 
revelation — the  glory  of  God  in  and  by  the  reunion  of 
man  with  God — is  attainable  perfectly  only  through  the 
unity  of  the  Church.  Though  innumerable  in  personal 
pecuHarities,  men  are  all  one  in  the  essence  of  humanity  ; 
and  their  restoration  to  perfectness  comes  primarily 
through  the  resurrection  to  life  of  the  human  essence, 
that  had  become  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  ".  Eph. 
n.  1.  Thi-s  resurrection  can  no  more  be  man's  own  act, 
than  can  his  original  life  itself  have  been  his  act.  Its 
consequences  he  may  direct,  at  will,  into  the  channel  of 
good,  or  the  channel  of  evil.  The  Divine-humanity  of 
15 


338      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Jesus  touches  everywliere  tlie  liuman  essence,  and  there- 
fore affects  every  individual  human  creature.  That 
Divine  humanity  is  not  only  memorialized  in  the  Church, 
but  manifested  "with  power"  also.  Though  every  man 
is  made  capable  of  salvation,  through  the  incarnation  of 
Jesus  ;  and,  since  He  is  "the  true  Light  which  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world ",  S.  Jn.  I.  9, 
Poll  the  true  light  that  anywhere  shines  comes  from  Him  ; 
yet  He  came  in  all  things  to  do  His  Father's  will.  The 
concentration  and  completeness  of  the  Redemption, 
wrought  by  Jesus,  must  respect  both  the  essential  unity 
of  God  and  the  oneness  of  humanity.  Therefore  it 
centres  in  One  Body.  Indeed  the  burden  of  Christ's 
last  prayer  on  earth-^for  His  disciples,  "  and  not  for 
these  alone,  but  for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on 
Me  through  their  word  " — ^was,  "  That  they  all  may  be 
one  ;  as  Thou  Father  art  in  Llje  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they 
also  may  be  one  in  Us :  that  the  world  may  believe  that 
Thou  hast  sent  Me ".  XVH.  20,  21.  He  also.  Who 
spake  by  the  prophets  and  to  the  Apostles  taught  "  all 
things  ",  throughout  the  New  Testament  maintains  the 
unity  of  the  Church,  even  calling  it  "  The  Church  which 
h  His  Body  the  fulness  of  Him  that  fiUeth  all  in  all ". 
Eph.  I.  22,  23.  Language  is  exhausted  in  thus  express^ 
ing  the  unity  of  the  Church.  Nothing  can  be  said 
stronger,  or  fuller,  than  "  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth 
all  in  all ",  The  exactness,  and  completeness  of  the  de^ 
finition  admirably  fit  and  fill  the  necessities  of  the  case. 
The  family  of  God,  into  which  men  are  reborn,  wherein 
their  natural  death  in  sin  is  overcome  by  the  Divine 
adoption — including  regeneration,  engrafting  into  "  The 
Vine  ",  abiding  in  Him,  with  the  fellowship  of  the  Spirit^ 
involves  the  circulation  through  one  organism  of  the  vital- 
izing All.      This  organic   operation  of  grace,  pouring 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      339 

through  The  Body,  and  reaching  every  member  in  and 
by  his  subconscious  personality,  does  not  militate  against 
his  conscious  dignity  and  duty  of  choice.  It  must  enter 
him  thus,  or  it  would  fail  to  reach  the  root  and  base  of 
his  existence,  and  would  therefore  be  only  a  partial  re- 
newal and  an  incomplete  salvation:  but  "his  calling" 
is  ever  at  his  own  disposal,  he  may  use  or  abuse  his 
new-life,  as  he  may  use  and  abuse  his  mortal  life.  The 
unity  however  stands,  in  any  case,  upon  the  union  of 
God  with  the  unity  of  humanity.  They  two  are  brought 
together  in  the  Gospel ;  and  the  Church,  being  the  em- 
bodiment of  the  Gospel,  is  and  can  be  only  one. 

There  are  "diversities  of  gifts"  and  "diversities  of 
operations",  1  Cor.  XII.,  but  the  creative  energy  does 
not  belong  to  man  at  all,  much  less  to  any  one  of  his 
gifts;  nor  can  it  become  effectual  through  any  of  his 
operations.  In  questions  of  the  day  men  may  organize 
socially,  or  even  politically,  as  they  will ;  but  in  the  all 
including  question  of  man's  salvation — his  restoration  in 
the  foundation  and  loftiest  structure  of  his  personal,  and 
consociate  or  rather  coorganic,  human  existence — he 
has  neither  the  wisdom  nor  the  power  to  construct  the 
needful  organism.  If  the  Gospel  were  a  mere  code  of 
laws,  or  system  of  doctrine,  he  might  perhaps  form  his 
own  religious  societies,  and  call  them  Churches  ;  though 
even  then  it  would  be  better  for  him,  if  God  had  formed 
to  his  hand  the  Divine  household.  But,  as  we  have  seen, 
and  as  eveiy  truly  wise  and  reflecting  man,  on  self-scru- 
tiny, is  solemnly  convinced  and  deeply  feels,  knowledge 
is  not  what  we  need  primarily,  but  grace :  even  the 
gracious  impartation  of  renewed  life,  which,  entering 
thro'  the  root  of  humanity,  shall  flow  with  vitalizing 
force  into  subconscious  personality,  and  thence  pour 
throughout  all  the  faculties  and  powers,  bearing  gifts  and 


340      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

bringing  opportimities.  The  root  bears  the  branches, 
though  the  branches  return  the  life-flow  back  again  to 
the  root.  Both  are  necessary  to  the  fully  developed  tree. 
So,  in  like  manner,  the  Church  bears  her  members.  She 
is  the  house  of  the  One  God  ;  as  has  been  said,  "His 
body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all ".  Man's 
salvation  is  not  only  effected  by,  but  consists  in  restora- 
tion to.union  with  Got).  God's  grace,  or  favor,  or  resur- 
recting, regenerating,  renewing  operations,  are  the  means 
of  this  restoration.  Its  enlargement  by  personal  growth, 
with  its  variations  in  aspect  and  power,  are  affected  by 
every  individual-partaker's  free  use  of  his  own  "gifts'* 
and  "  opportunities  ".  The  original  vital  force  however, 
is  not  of  man,  nor  by  man.  The  Gospel  follows  all  the 
analogies  of  known  creation,  in  showing  the  channel  of 
this  vital  force  of  renewing  grace,  not  as  a  floating  in- 
tangible abstraction  of  powerful  truth,  but  as  a  manifest, 
visible,  and  single  organic  body ;  into  which  men  are 
admitted,  as  branches  are  grafted  into  the  vine.  The 
analogy  of  the  vine  however  is  only,  like  all  analogies,  a 
partial  comparison.  As  the  tree  of  life  "  bare  twelve  man- 
ner of  fruits  and  yielded  her  fruit  every  month ",  Rev. 
XXn.  2  ;  so  are  the  mortal  branches — made  fruit  bear- 
ing, by  engrafting  into  Christ,  in  "  the  Church  which  is 
His  body  " — diverse  in  the  manner  of  their  manifesta- 
tions. There  is  no  dead  monotony  in  Christianity.  The 
Church,  like  Her  Divine  Head,  leaves  ample  verge  for 
free  development  of  every  class  and  variety  of  mind  and 
character,  in  those  originally  godlike  men,  who  in  Her 
are  restored  to  union  and  communion  with  God. 

Hence  the  Church  is  not  only  one,  but  Catholic  also. 
That  unity — in  and  through  which  the  depths  of  human- 
ity, the  essence  and  basis  of  person,  are  revived — rounds 
out  and  completes  itself,  by  embracing  all  who  will  be 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      341 

saved,  all  "  the  men  of  good  will  '\  Its  primal  grace,  its 
instructions,  its  memorials,  all  its  functions  and  opera- 
tions, coming  from  the  loving  Father,  organized  by  The 
Word,  vivified  by  the  Lord  of  Life,  are  intended  for  all 
men,  and  are  sufficient  for  all.  The  men  of  good  will 
everywhere,  as  they  have  one  end  of  salvation,  have  also 
one  means,  viz.,  the  One  Catholic  Church.  "For  as  the 
body  is  one  and  hath  many  members,  and  all  the  mem- 
bers of  that  one  body,  being  many,  are  one  body  :  so  also 
is  Christ.  For  by  one  Spirit  are  we  all  baptized  unto  one 
body,  whether  we  be  Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether  we  be 
bond  or  free  ;  and  have  been  all  made  to  drink  into  one 
Spirit.  For  the  body  is  not  one  member  but  many." 
1  Cor.  Xn.  12-14. 

The  Catholicity  of  the  Church  embraces  not  only  space, 
but  time.  It  is  one,  on  all  the  earth,  and  it  is  one,  through 
all  generations.  Nay,  we  are  assured,  by  both  reason 
and  faith,  that  its  existence  is  not  confined  to  earth  and 
time.  Its  restoration  of  men  is  an  everlasting  restoration. 
They,  who  receive  it  and  keep  it,  shall  find  it  beyond  the 
grave.  Through  eternity,  the  church  will  continue  one, 
and  Catholic ;  embracing  all  Her  children,  and  leading 
them  in  clearer  light,  on  a  broader  area,  onward  in  the 
same  approaches  towards  perfectness  and  with  the  same 
Divine  fellowship,  that  in  time  and  on  earth  they  enjoyed 
in  Her  communion. 

The  apprehension  of  this  fact  is  difficult  to  Modern 
Thought,  because  of  the  persistent  uprising  and  common 
prevalence — in  this  age  of  abstractions — of  the  notion 
that  ideas  have  the  power  of  clothing  themselves,  and 
manifesting  themselves  in  any  form  they  please.  Be- 
cause Christianity  is  largely  doctrinal,  it  is  supposed  that 
it  is  capable  of  expression  through  abstract  ideas  of 
truth  and  beauty  and  goodness  ;  and  that  they  can  oper- 


84:2      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

ate  effectually  through  numberless  forms.  It  is  evident 
however  that  doctrines  are  only  results,  that  spring  from 
Christianity  as  fruits  grow  on  the  tree.  Truth,  beauty, 
and  goodness,  as  intellectual  propositions,  aesthetic  forces, 
or  moral  influences,  are  no  where  so  abundant  or  so  per- 
fect as  in  Christianity  ;  but  they  do  not  reach  to  the 
depths  of  humanity,  nor  lay  hold  on  the  person  of  God. 
"When  however  a  man  perceives  that  he  is  more  than 
mind  or  heart,  that  he  has  something  underlying  intelli- 
gence will  and  affection,  even  a  vital,  organic,  yet  indivisi- 
ble unit  self ;  and  that  this  self  is  organically  joined  to 
one  human  substance,  of  which  all  human  individuals  are 
like  himself  partakers  ;  then  he  steps  beyond  the  realm  of 
abstract  ideas,  and  becomes  capable  of  receiving  the  fact 
of  the  unity  and  Catholicity  of  the  Church.  Indeed, 
then  only  can  he  escape  from  that  vagueness,  which  is 
the  especial  fault  and  feebleness  of  Modern  Thought. 
He  may  sacrifice  a  false  pride  somewhat,  in  thus  confess- 
ing that  he  is  not  a  creator  of  organism  ;  that  he  cannot 
make  a  church,  or  churches,  to  suit  his  accepted  religious 
ideas  ;  but  he  will  advance  to  a  much  loftier  position, 
and  tread  harder  ground,  than  when  trying  to  set  up 
structures,  on  the  frail  mists  of  mere  opinion. 

The  one  Catholic  Church  is  not  a  despot  over  free 
man.  It  leaves  him  still,  to  stand  in  person  and  answer 
for  himself  to  God.  It  only  meets  the  deep  necessities 
of  his  common  humanity  ;  and,  providing  for  these  first, 
then  acts  as  his  spiritual  mother.  She  bears  children 
unto  her  Lord  ;  and  is  intrusted  by  Him,  with  their 
nourishment,  defence,  education,  training,  discipline 
and  support.  She  is  ever  under  Him,  in  Him,  and 
with  Him.  Therefore  she  must  be  true  to  Him.  The 
Church  does  not  stand  between  man  and  God.  She  is 
the  handmaiden,  serving  man  for  God.     As   a  visible 


THE   CREED   AND    MODEKN    THOUGHT.  343 

body,  slie  has  works  to  do  towards  men  for  God's  sake. 
Yet  in  all  respects — as  the  organic  body  of  the  united, 
faithful  members  of  Christ,  as  the  Bride,  as  the  kingdom 
of  God — she  has  the  great  commission  of  helping  free 
men,  to  "  stand  fast  .  in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ 
hath  made  us  free  ".  Gal.  V.  1. 

The  One,  Catholic  Church  is  Apostolic  also.  It  is  "  the 
household  of  God  .  .  .  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the 
apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the 
chief  corner  stone  ".  Eph.  II.  19,  20.  The  association  of 
the  prophets  with  the  apostles,  in  this  foundation,  shows 
the  peculiar  significance  of  the  apostolicity  of  the  Church. 
It  binds  it  to  the  Trinity,  and  is  an  instance  of  the  diver- 
sities of  operations  in  the  Three  persons  in  the  one  God- 
head. As  in  the  material  creation,  so  in  this  greater 
work  of  redemption  and  re-creation,  the  loving  Father 
sends,  the  merciful  Son  forms  and  orders  and  shapes, 
and  the  vivifying  Spirit  pours  in  the  hfe. 

Jesus  had  completed  His  visible,  personal  work  on 
earth.  Having  made  the  sacrifice,  and  conquered  death, 
He  returned  "  unto  the  Apostles  whom  He  had  chosen  : 
to  whom  also  He  showed  Himself  alive  after  His  passion 
by  many  infallible  proofs,  being  seen  of  them  forty  days, 
and  speaking  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of 
God  :  and  being  assembled  together  with  them  com- 
manded them  that  they  should  not  depart  from  Jerusalem, 
but  wait  for  the  promise  of  the  Father,  which,  saith 
He,  ye  have  heard  of  me.  For  John  truly  baptized  with 
water,  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  not 
many  days  hence  ".    Acts  L  2-5. 

The  re-creation  was  put  into  shape.  It  was  not  cha- 
otic ;  but  it  was  also  not  yet  inbreathed  with  life.  The 
AVord  had  spoken.  The  form  and  the  frame  of  the 
Church  were  set  up.    Jesus  confirmed  His  previous  de- 


34:4:  THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

scription,  by  speaking  of  the  Churcli,  as  "  the  kingdom 
of  God  ",  as  He  had  before  called  it  *'My  kingdom".  S. 
Jn.  XVULL  36.  It  was  a  body  politic,  as  well  as  an  or- 
ganic body.  It  was  to  discipline,  as  well  as  teach  and 
dispense  means  of  grace.  And  yet,  at  this  time,  it  was 
incomplete,  and  not  even  understood  by  the  Apostles. 
They  still  clung  to  their  old,  narrow,  Jewish  expectations. 
"  They  asked  of  Him,  saying,  Loed  wilt  Thou  at  this 
time  restore  again  the  Kingdom  to  Israel  ?  *'  v.  6.  He 
replied — setting  the  seal  upon  His  finished  revelation, 
and  making  it  formally  complete — "  It  is  not  for  you  to 
know  the  times  and  the  seasons,  which  The  Father  hath 
put  in  His  own  power.  But  ye  shall  receive  power  after 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you  :  and  ye  shall  be 
witnesses  unto  Me  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  Samaria, 
and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth  ".  v.  7,  8. 

Here  His  visible  earthly  mission  ended,  for  "  when  He 
had  spoken  these  things,  while  they  beheld,  He  was 
taken  up  ;  and  a  cloud  received  Him  out  of  their  sight ". 
V.  9. 

For  ten  days  the  one  Cathohc  Church  remained  only 
formed,  not  vivified.  like  the  formed  Adam,  it  waited 
for  the  "  inbreathing  ".  When  however  the  due  time  had 
come,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  had  descended,  then  this  com- 
plete, formal  "body",  and  "kingdom"  and  "household 
of  God  ",  was  perfected  by  the  operation  of  "  the  Lord 
and  Giver  of  Life  ".  In  and  through  the  Apostles,  and 
by  their  ministrations,  the  vitalizing  power  went  forth 
into  and  through  the  Church.  Ever  since  that  time  the 
"  Body  "  has  been  the  eminent  channel  of  the  graces  of 
the  One  Spirit.  Its  apostolicity  is  an  especial  mark  of 
its  governance  by  the  Spirit.  Not  simply,  because  as 
men  the  Apostles  were  better  or  purer  or  vdser  than 
other  men,  did  the  Spirit  descend  upon  them ;  but  be- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      345 

cause  they  were  the  persons  -whom  Jesus  had  chosen. 
Jesus  had  ordained  them.  S.  Jn.  XX.  22.  He  had  in- 
trusted them  with  that  delegated  divine  authority,  ne- 
cessary for  the  temporal  working  of  an  earthly  polity,  or 
visible  Church,  v.  23.  He  had  given  them  their  mis- 
sion. S.  Matt.  XXVni.  19.  He  had  taught  them  all  they 
could  receive,  and  said  much  that  they  could  not  under- 
stand until  illumined  from  on  High.  These  facts  were 
sealed,  by  the  work  begun  at  Pentecost.  The  Apostolic 
Church  became  then,  and  of  course  continues  thencefor- 
ward the  perfected  "  Body  of  Chkist  ";  not  only  formally 
complete,  but  vitalized  'also  by  the  Spiktt's  constant  in- 
dweUing. 

Thus  the  spiritual  creation,  like  the  material,  was  fin- 
ished through  the  seaHng  and  perfecting  operation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  As  when  the  world  was  made,  the  Trinity 
conjointly  acted  in  due  order  ;  so  when  the  organism  of 
the  Church — the  household  of  God,  the  Body  of  Christ — • 
was  formed  and  made  living,  the  same  Three  persons  in 
the  Godhead  in  like  manner  planned,  and  wrought,  and 
vivified.  As  the  created  earth  came  forth  and  "  God  saw 
that  it  was  good  "  ;  so  also  the  Church,  from  her  Pente- 
costal bii*th  in  baptism  by  the  Spirit,  "  looketh  forth  as 
the  morning,  fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  terrible 
as  with  banners  ".    Cant.  VI.  10. 

The  mystery,  which  spread  a  shadow  over  creation, 
and  drew  a  veil  between  it  and  the  visible  glory  of  God's 
presence,  was  permitted  also  to  surround  and  penetrate 
the  Church,  with  its  clouds  and  frost.  Sin,  the  blot  on 
God's  good  creation,  was  not  precluded  from  assailing 
the  nobler  new-creation.  Men,  both  as  creatures  and  as 
redeemed  ones,  had  their  way  of  Hfe  to  follow,  with  sin 
in  and  around  them,  and  within  reach  of  the  deceiver 
and  tempter.  The  comprehension  of  this  mystei-y  is  not 
.  15* 


346  THE   CREED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

given  to  mortals.  We  may  not  know  what  possible  com- 
pensations can  follow  sin,  so  that  its  very  darkness  shall, 
in  due  time,  make  the  glory  of  the  "  True  Light "  only 
the  more  resplendent.  We  may  only  dimly  perceive, 
how  the  freedom  of  godlike  man  may  be  intelligently  ex- 
alted, while  his  loyal  devotion  to  the  One  worthy  to  be 
his  everlasting  Lord  may  be  most  deeply  set  in  his  heart, 
by  the  experience  of  conflict  against  sin  and  the  adver- 
sary amid  the  mystery  of  iniquity.  We  can  only  thank- 
fully accept  the  illuminating  word  of  revelation,  with  the 
abounding  grace,  through  which  so  much  as  is  seen  re- 
veals the  noble  discipline,  to  be  gained  by  life  struggles 
against  sin  ;  while  personal  faith,  in  the  personal  God  of 
love,  brings  the  assurance  of  hope  that  good  will  finally 
and  gloriously  prevail  over  evil.  As  for  the  earth,  so  for 
the  Church,  we  know  and  are  assured  that  although  the 
warfare  of  evil  may  be  long,  and  the  battles  severe, 
wherein  manly  faith  and  patience  and  holy  endurance 
will  be  tested  as  gold  is  tried  by  fire  ;  yet,  The  Creator 
and  Preserver  of  things  visible  and  invisible,  is  "  Head 
over  all  things  to  the  Church  ". 

The  One,  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  had  no  war- 
rant of  exemption  from  evil.  Its  characteristic  as  the 
*'Ecclesia" — the  congregation  called  out  of  men,  yet  left 
to  do  its  work  and  make  its  history  among  the  successive 
generations — subjected  it  to  the  necessity,  which  accom- 
panies every' progressive  organization,  wherein  the  free 
will  of  mankind  enters  as  an  efficient  cause  or  effective 
element.  Growth  and  decay,  success  and  failure,  good 
and  evil,  light  and  darkness  checker  the  area  within  the 
perfect  outlines  of  the  Church  ;  as  they,  in  like  manner, 
chase  each  other  across  the  fair  fields  of  God's  good,  ma- 
terial creation. 


THE-  CREED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT.      347 

As  the  earth  is  no  less  tlie  earth,  however  cursed  for 
man's  sin  ;  so  is  the  Church  no  less  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
however  its  subjects,  whether  high  or  low,  may  often, 
sadly  show  faithlessness  and  disloyalty.  It  is  not  won- 
derful that  the  Apostles  themselves,  who  were  but  men, 
exhibited  occasional  faults  ;  or  that  the  first  converts  were 
sometimes  "  carnal."  Indeed,  in  every  age.  The  Church 
has  been  sorely  wounded.  Pride,  folly  and  self-willed 
ignorance  have  tainted  her  with  heresies,  and  torn  her 
with  schisms,  on  the  ecclesiastical  or  human  side  of  her 
constitution  ;  but,  on  the  Divine  side,  the  ingrafting  has 
not  been  severed  :  her  adherence  "  to  the  faith  once  for 
all  delivered  unto  the  saints ",  Jude  3,  has  been  pre- 
served ;  her  "laver  of  regeneration  ",  Tit.  HL  5,  has  ever 
held  the  pure  waters  of  baptism  ;  and  the  "bread  of 
Heaven"  has  not  been  wanting  on  her  Table  of  the 
XiORD.  To  man  she  has  ever  dispensed  the  *'  means  of 
grace,"  and  before  God  has  held  up  the  "  Memorial  of 
He". 

The  *^One,  Catholic,  Apostolic  Church"  is  "Holy" 
also,  being  "  the  communion  of  saints ".  This  latter 
clause,  tho'  wanting  in  the  earlier  historic  forms  of  The 
Creed,  is  only  an  amplification  of  the  Ecclesia.  It  is  not 
a  distinct  article.  It  is  an  explanatory  supplement  to  the 
article  on  the  Church,  Its  meaning  is,  that  the  Church 
is  the  Communion  of  the  saints.  It  directs  attention 
first  to  the  ecclesiastical  side  ;  and  shows  that  the  saints 
are  united  together  in  one  Body.  The  holiness,  which 
constitutes  them  saints,  is  their  fitness  for  the  commu- 
nion. Their  fitness  is  not  all,  for  then  would  the  Church 
be  an  invisible  abstraction,  rather  than  the  organic  body, 
the  divine  polity,  the  objective,  historical,  teaching  sac- 
ramental and  discipliaary  system   it  has  shown   and 


348      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

proved  itself.  Holiness  is  known,  only  to  Him  that 
readetli  the  heart.  It  cannot  be  put  in  evidence  before 
men.  Its  fruits  may  appear  to  men,  and  whoever  shows 
its  fruits,  may  claim  admittance  into  the  Communion  of 
the  Saints  ;  but  obedience  is  one  of  the  first  fruits  of  holi- 
ness, and  this  leads  at  once  into  the  Church,  through 
the  waters  of  baptism,  and  to  a  succeeding  holy  walk  and 
conversation  in  devout  worship,  faithful  partaking  of  the 
memorial  sacrament,  with  consistent  loyalty  and  charity. 
The  Holy  Church  is  edified,  and  duly  manifested  before 
heaven  and  earth,  by  the  saints.  In  fact,  however,  this 
purest  and  brightest  "  note  "  of  her  legitimacy,  is  affected 
by  the  dreadful  "  mystery  of  iniquity  ".  As  even  the  soul 
of  her  Lord,  as  well  as  His  senses,  were  *'  tempted  of  the 
devil ",  so  must  she  also  endure  his  wiles  even  in  her  sanc- 
tuary. The  holiaess  of  her  Head  the  devil  cannot  tar- 
nish ;  nor  can  he  intrude  within  that  hallowed  line  where 
The  Spirit  gives  efficacy  to  the  Word,  efficiency  to  the 
sacrament,  and  effectiveness  to  rightful  discipline  :  he  may 
alas,  however,  tempt  all  mortal  saints,  and  overcome  them 
indeed,  should  they  be  faithless  or  unwatchful.  The 
wiles  of  Satan  have  done  evil  to  the  Ecclesia  ;  but  the 
Church  is  yet  the  Communion  of  the  Saints.  It  is  the  One 
Body,  into  which  the  saints  are  ingrafted  members.  It  is 
the  one  only  body,  to  which  their  high  or  low  degrees  of 
saintship  may  gravitate,  with  which  cohere,  and  out  of 
which  draw  the  vital  current  of  organic  life,  to  be  re- 
turned in  responsive  reflow  of  holy  Hving  with  worship. 
"  The  temple  of  God  is  holy,  which  ye  are  ".  1  Cor.  IIL 
17.  ^  "  The  Lord  is  gracious.  To  whom  coming  as  unto 
a  living  stone,  disallowed  indeed  of  men,  but  chosen  of 
God,  and  precious,  be  ye  also  as  lively  stones  built  up  a 
spiritual  house,  an  holy  priesthood,  to  offer  up  spiritual 
sacrifices,  acceptable  to  God,  by  Jesus  Christ."     1  S.  Pet, 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      349 

n.  3-5.  "  Now  therefore  ye  are  no  more  strangers  and 
foreigners,  but  fellow  citizens  witli  the  saints,  and  of  the 
household  of  God,  and  are  built  upon  the  foundation  of 
the  Apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Chkist  Himself  being 
the  chief  corner  ;  in  Whom  all  the  building,  fitly  framed 
together  gi'oweth  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord  :  in 
Whom  ye  also  are  builded  together  for  an  habitation  of 
God  through  the  Spirit  ".     Eph.  H.  19-22. 

This  One  Body,  with  its  fourfold  notes — Unity,  Catho- 
licity, Apostolicity  and  Hohness — like  all  bodies,  is  made 
up  of  members,  and  these  members  stand  in  fixed  rela- 
tions to  each  other.  "Now  ye  are  the  body  of  Christ 
and  members  in  particular,  and  God  hath  set  some  in 
the  church,  first  apostles,  secondarily  prophets,  thirdly 
teachers  ".  1  Cor.  XII.  28.  This  is  the  plainest  single 
passage  in  Holy  Scripture,  where  a  threefoldness  of 
ministry  in  the  church  is  set  forth.  The  abstract  neces- 
sity of  a  ministry  is  nowhere  formally  declared.  It  is 
taken  for  granted.  The  common  sense  of  mankind 
is  reUed  upon,  for  accepting  the  primary  necessity 
of  an  order  of  ministers  in  a  corporate,  progressive, 
missionary  body.  This  order,  that  of  course  must  be, 
was  in  fact  set  up  by  Jesus.  The  formal  completeness 
of  His  body  the  Church  demanded  it ;  and  He  gave  it 
when  He  ordained,  granted  disciplinary  authority  to, 
and  commissioned  His  apostles.  That  apostle  to  whom 
he  gave  an  extraordinary,  even  miraculous  call,  is  the 
one  quoted  above.  Though  directly  taught  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  Gal.  I.  12  ;  Eph.  HL  3,  and  inspired  of  The  Spirit, 
and  though  naturally  self-reliant,  bold  and  free,  claiming 
to  be  "  an  apostle,  not  of  man,  neither  by  man,  but  by 
Jesus  Christ",  Gal.  I.  1,  he  himseK  set  the  example  of 
due  subordination  to  those  in  authority.  Gal.  H. ;  Acts 
XV.     His  example  and  his  words,  taken  together,  show 


350      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

llow  the  balance  may  be  practically  adjusted,  between 
inevitable  authority  and  inalienable  personal  liberty. 

Modem  Thought  must  yield  to  common  sense,  by  con- 
fessing the  inevitable  necessity  of  an  authorized  ministry 
in  the  Church.  The  functions  of  its  office  include  all 
those  "  operations",  in  which  all  the  members  must  be 
reached,  or  of  which  be  made  partakers.  The  "king- 
dom of  the  Lord  "  requires  for  its  administration  apos- 
tles, i.e.,  as  the  word  signifies,  *sent  ones',  *  persons 
sent  from  '.  Sent  from  whom  ?  Evidently  from  "  The 
Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church".  Eph.  I.  22. 
The  direction,  the  final  discipline,  the  general  oversight, 
and  the  ordinary  conduct  or  control  of  the  Church  must 
have  been  at  first  in  the  hands  of  the  apostles,  whom 
Jesus  appointed.  The  Church  however  was  constituted 
a  perpetual  body,  and  Jesus  promised  to  be  with  those 
He  had  commissioned  "alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world  ".  S.  Matt.  XXVni.  20.  The  twelve  di6d  long 
ago.  Has  the  promise  of  Jesus  failed ;  or  are  there  to 
this  day  on  the  earth,  in  the  visible  Church,  actual  his- 
toric successors  of  the  apostles,  with  authority  not  of 
man  but  of  the  Head,  through  historic  succession  ? 
Just  such  ordination,  and  commission  as  the  first  apos- 
tles received,  is  evidently  impossible  ;  because  the  visi- 
ble ministry  of  Jesus  has  closed.  The  visibility  of  the 
Church  being — ^as  has  been  already  amply  shown — part 
of  its  essence,  as  the  organism  of  salvation  for  men's 
bodies  and  souls  ;  and  the  visibility  of  an  unbroken,  his- 
torical apostolicity  being  one  of  its  true  notes  ;  wherever 
the  Church  is,  there  must  continue  a  superior  ministerial 
order,  having  both  Apostolic  order  and  unbroken  succes- 
sion. 

Common  sense  shows,  that  the  higher  functions  of  the 
ruler  in  the  Ecclesia  are,  tho'  extensive,  few.    Hence, 


THE  CEEED  AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 


a  comparatively  small  number  ma^B^S^^-Krl^-^ih 
Church.  Multitudes  however  are  nfleglirto  ^mifli^elf'' 
the  form  of  the  Sacraments.  Bapt 
though  always  spiritually  made  by\^  ever-present' 
Jesus  (for  *'  the  same  is  He  Which  baptazetk  ^yith^|l:jeb' 
Holy  Ghost  ",  S.  Jn.  I.  33),  must  be  administered 
individual :  and  the  Holy  Communion  must  be  cele- 
brated everywhere  "  in  remembrance  of  Me  ",  and  "  the 
bread  which  cometh  down  from  heaven",  YI.  50, 
should  be  dispensed  constantly.  Moreover  the  message 
of  pardon  to  penitents  must  be  formal,  authorized,  and 
applied  not  only  through  general  discourse,  but  in  spe- 
cific assurance.  Herein  we  find  the  exact  function  of 
the  ordinary,  prophetical,  office.  Prophets  may  or  may 
not  be  inspired.  They  may  or  may  not  foretell  future 
events.  These  are  accidents  to  the  prophetical  office  ; 
its  essence  is  authority  from  God,  to  treat  with  men 
about  the  covenant  of  salvation.  That  covenant,  being 
now  completed,  and  at  work  in  perfectness,  ordinarily, 
in  the  world  ;  it  is  clear  that  the  prophetical  office  must 
have  visible  and  ordinary  duties,  and  be  administered  by 
those  duly  authorized,  under  the  successors  of  the  apos- 
tles now  somewhere  ruling  the  Church,  under  Her  ever- 
present  Head. 

"  Thirdly  teachers ! "  Teaching  belongs  to  a  society  or 
organization.  It  presumes  certain  preliminary  and  pre- 
paratory proceedings.  Classes  are  put  under  teachers  ; 
and  classes  are  formed  in  recognition  of,  or  obedience  to 
a  power,  that  can  select  and  arrange  their  members. 
Before  coming  under  teachers  such  classes  have  gone 
through  all  needful  steps,  to  make  them  full  subjects  of 
the  authority  to  be  exercised  over  them.  Teaching  is 
essentially  authoritative.      It    imparts    knowledge.     It 


352      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

begins  with  rudiments,  and  proceeds  to  the  whole  scope 
of  instruction,  within  the  limits  of  its  subject.  It  is 
rudimental,  but  not  radical  ;  complete,  but  not  unlim- 
ited. It  begins  not  in  the  soil,  but  upon  a  prepared 
foundation.  It  finishes,  when  its  defined  scope  has  been 
reached  and  filled. 

Thus  the  practical  working  of  the  organized  Church, 
is  finally  provided  for  in  the  teaching  office.  The  Apos- 
tle rules,  and  guides,  and  orders  the  body  as  a  whole ; 
with  such  command  of  details,  as  the  exercise  of  the 
ruling  function  may  require.  The  Prophet  does  the 
daily  duties  of  reception  into,  and  guidance  under  the 
covenant ;  which  man  fulfils  on  the  ecclesiastical  side 
and  God  seals  to  His  Church.  The  members  of  this  or- 
ganism com^  constantly  before  their  Teachers,  to  be 
educated  in  the  words  of  revelation,  and  edified  in  ho- 
liness. Thus  these  three  ministerial  functions,  of  which 
the  higher  includes  the  lower,  occupy  distinct  fields  ; 
yet  each  is  needful  for  the  other,  while  all  together  con- 
stitute an  efficient  and  complete  system  for  the  practical 
working  of  the  organized  Ecclesia.  The  Divine  King- 
dom also,  or  Church — set  up  in  the  world  for  the  honor 
of  God,  with  the  building  up  of  disciples  in  the  most 
holy  faith — has  aU  its  departments  filled  by  the  varied 
operations  of  a  ministry,  included  within  this  distinct 
yet  united,  functional  threefoldness. 

We  say  nothing  here  of  historic  three  orders  in  the 
Christian  ministry.  The  point  simply  is  that  the  func- 
tional threefoldness  meets  all  the  requirements  of  the 
Ecclesia  ;  and,  as  may  be  further  suggested,  carries  out 
through  the  "members",  the  royal,  priestly,  and  pro- 
phetical operations  of  the  Head. 

Around  the  Church  however  the  world  exists.  Out  of 
the  world,  subjects  ai'e  to  be  called  into  the  Kingdom  of 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      353 

God.  Here  is  room  for  another,  though  temporary 
office.  In  that  place,  where  S.  Paul  again  speaks  of  the 
ministry,  another  function  is  referred  to,  and  provided 
for.  While  Apostles  and  prophets,  and  pastoral  teachers, 
are  mentioned  again  ;  and  their  authority  is  stated  to  be 
*'  given  "  of  Christ — as,  in  the  instance  above,  said  to  be 
"  set "  by  God — special  provision  is  also  made  for  the 
emergency  of  missions  thro'  a  class  of  "  Evangelists  ". 
They  are  evidently  not  an  order,  for  they  have  no  place 
in  the  normal  work  of  the  Church.  They  exist  for  emer- 
gencies only.  It  may  be  that  the  emergency  of  missiojis 
will  continue  until  the  end  of  time,  and  evangelists  may 
equally  long  be  needed  :  but  it  is  evident  that  their  field 
of  labor  lies  not  in,  but  around  the  church.  The  w*ord3 
of  The  Spirit  by  the  hand  of  S.  Paul  upon  this  point,  are 
"  Christ  ....  gave  some,  apostles ;  and  some,  pro- 
phets ;  and  some,  evangelists  ;  and  some  pastors  and 
teachers  ".     Eph.  IV.  7,  11. 

The  object  of  this  whole  ministerial  machinery,  is  not 
to  set  up  some  men  above  others ;  not  to  establish  a 
gorgeous  hierarchy  for  dazzling  the  world  with  derived 
splendors  of  heavenly  authority,  and  for  ruling  over  the 
souls  of  men  by  resistless.  Divine  might.  The  Church 
is  God's  house,  and  the  Ecclesia  is  composed  of  God's 
people.  His  care  is  for  them.  His  ministry  was  estab- 
lished, and  is  upheld  for  their  sakes.  He  has  not  placed 
an  organized  society  between  them  and  Himself.  He 
has  not  given,  to  His  appointed  threefold  ministry,  au- 
thority to  stand  between  Him  and  His  people.  By 
nature  and  by  grace,  the  personal  union  and  communion 
of  every  "man  of  good  will",  with  the  person  God,  is 
not  only  an  inalienable  right,  which  neither  party  will 
nor  can  dispense  with  ;  but  it  is  also  a  necessity  to  that 
restoration  of  communion  between  God  and  man,  which 


354  THE   CEEED   AND   MODERN   THOUGHT. 

the  whole  creation  groans  after,  and  the  Gospel  is  sent 
to  effect. 

The  object  and  design  of  the  ministry  is  given  by 
Scripture  in  the  words  immediately  following,  the  last 
quotation :  "  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the 
work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  Body  of 
Chbist."  v.  12.  Nor  is  this  to  continue  forever.  A  time  is 
coming,  when  He,  in  Whom  all  offices  of  the  ministry 
are  concentred,  and  from  Whom  they  flow,  will  resume 
them.  Now  indeed  Cheist  is  the  one,  effective  ruler, 
priest-prophet,  and  pastoral-teacher  of  His  Church.  He 
is  not  absent  from  His  earthly  kingdom.  He  is  not 
separated  from  His  brethren  in  God's  great  family  of 
adoption.  Only  the  visibility,  of  official  ministry,  is 
delegated.  It  suits  the  Divine-providence,  that  men 
shall  minister  under  CmusT.  With  Him  however,  not 
instead  of  Him — they  visible,  and  He  invisible — the 
Apostles,  Prophets,  and  Pastoral-teachers,  with  Evangel- 
ists serve  :  and  this  service  is  to  continue  only,  "  Till  we 
all  come  into  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure 
of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ  ".  v.  13.  This 
perfection  need  not  be  looked  for  in  this  life.  Therefore 
the  ministry  shall  wield  the  authority  that  Christ  origi- 
nally gave  to  His  apostles  ;  bear  their  responsibility  ; 
and  be  the  ordinary  dispensers,  of  the  "  means  of  grace'*, 
so  long  as  time  shall  last.  At  the  consummation  of  all 
things,  however,  the  real  personal  union  between  every 
saint  and  His  Saviour,  will  be  visible  and  complete  and. 
satisfactory.  Though  gradations  may  exist,  in  the  vic- 
torious Kingdom  of  Our  Lord  ;  though  some,  among  the 
glorified  children  in  God's  heavenly  family,  may  be  more 
full  than  others  of  the  Divine  Hkeness  ;  yet  all  shall  be 
individually  in  communion  with  God,  through  the  God- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT       355 

man  ;,  while  every  one,  filled  to  his  full  measure  with  life 
and  light  and  grace,  shall  rejoice  in  the  Lord. 

Thus,  while  every  temporary  exigency  is  provided  for, 
and  the  Church  on  earth  is  a  glorious  thing  ;  yet,  be- 
cause men  in  her  are  waging  their  life  battles,  she  is  not 
yet  free  from  "spot,  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing". 
She  is  the  mother,  whom  we  now  know,  and  to  whom 
we  owe  love  and  fihal  reverence.  She  bears  us,  not  we 
her.  She  presents  us,  as  children,  to  her  Loed.  She  is 
not  a  society  of  our  making  ;  but  an  organism  of  God's 
making ;  even  a  bride,  whom  The  Son  of  Man  has  es- 
poused. All  this  conclusion  grows  from  the  root  of 
man's  necessity — through  his  natural  godlikeness^for 
complete  organic  restoration  to  union  with  God  :  and  is 
not  only  not  incompatible  with,  but  equally  preservative 
of  and  essential  for,  his  own  normal  development,  in 
freedom,  towards  manly  perfectness. 

"Where  now  is  this  One,  Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic 
Church?  It  is  somewhere,  or  "the  gates  of  hell"  have 
prevailed  ;  evil  has  conquered  good  ;  man  is  a  dupe  and 
slave ;  and  the  dark  present  is  only  a  prelude  to  an 
everlasting  blackness  of  darkness,  over  which  all  creation 
is  poising  for  a  final,  dismal  plunge.  We  cannot  lose 
this  article  of  the  Creed,  without  taking  out  part  of  the 
edifice  of  man's  only  consistent  and  congenial  hope. 
Human  hope  is  so  based  upon  and  built  in  together  with 
the  Divine  Humanity  of  the  "  Head  of  the  Church,"  that 
not  a  stone  of  the  edifice  can  be  spared.  Out  of  human 
needs,  in  the  track  of  their  upbuilding  towards  God,  one 
in  and  with  them  from  foundation  to  cope,  grows  the 
organic  unity  of  the  Church ;  which  must  be  ApostoHc 
that  it  may  link  with  her  head.  Catholic  that  she  may 
embrace  all  who  will  to  come  into  her.  Holy  in  the  com- 
iPleteness  of  all  spiritual  nurture  through  which  the  grace 


356      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

of  holiness  may  flourisli,  and  One  as  humanity  is  one  in 
human  substance  and  God  one  in  Divine  substance. 

The  question  of  historical  identity,  does  not  come 
"within  the  limits  of  our  present  investigation.  Enough 
has  been  written  elsewhere  on  that  point,  to  satisfy  the 
needs  of  earnest  and  sincere  students.  Any  line  of  his- 
torical investigation  may  be  pursued,  with  abundant 
materials  and  all  needful  helps.  Acknowledging  the 
Church,  which  humanity  needs,  and  God's  word  de- 
scribes, there  cannot  be  insuperable  difficulties  in  find- 
ing her.  She  is  certainly  somewhere,  holding  up  her 
"cross",  showing  her  "light",  bearing  her  "witness", 
claiming  her  aposfohc  origin,  catholic  scope,  holy  capac- 
ity, and  unity  with  her  Lord  :  suffering,  perhaps  ;  torn, 
it  may  be ;  perplexed,  or  sorrowful  or  hard  beset ;  but 
still  true  to  her  vocation  ;  confident  in  her  divine  origin  ; 
and  waiting,  in  faith,  for  vindication  before  men  in  ac- 
ceptance by  God.  "Wherever  she  is,  there  man  may 
surely  yet  live  in  her  ;  and  grow  up  with  ever  developing 
godlikeness,  "unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of 
the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ  ".     Eph.  IV.  13. 

The  fundamental  principles,  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
Ecclesia,  must  be  ever  maintained.  Whatever  visible  re- 
ligious body,  claims  now  to  be  the  One,  Holy  Catholic, 
Apostolic  Church,  must  show  historic  descent  fi*om 
Christ  ;  so  as  to  assure  the  efficacy  of  her  sacraments, 
the  power  of  her  discipline,  and  the  authority  of  her 
messages.  With  well  proved  continuity,  through  un- 
broken succession — either  recorded  link  by  link  or  as- 
sured by  concurrence  with  laws  and  usages  which  must 
have  been  always  in  operation — the  claim  of  the  Church, 
to-day,  to  identity  with  the  Church  set  up  by  Christ, 
can  be  estabHshed.     This  establishment  and  abiding 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      357 

upon  "  the  foundation  ",  assures  always,  everywhere,  to 
the  mihtant  Church,  all  the  authority,  power,  and  effi- 
ciency which  belong  to  her  Divine  side. 

On  her  human  side,  as  the  Ecclesia,  the  Church  of  to- 
day should  be  true  and  faithful  to  man.  She  should  con- 
serve that  "  hberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free  ". 
She  should  respect  those  full  rights  of  human  godlike- 
ness,  which  Christian  liberty  has  restored.  Though  on 
her  Divine  side  she  is  as  ever,  authoritative;  yet,  like 
her  Lord,  she  should  appeal  to,  not  enslave,  soul-fi-eedom. 
The  responsibility  of  the  Church  has  the  same  hmits 
with  her  authority.  She  need  not  answer  for  men,  who 
will  not  hear,  and  heed  and  do  good.  Nor  may  she 
treat  them  as  imbeciles,  to  be  saved  without  the  exercised 
responsibihty  of  free  choice  ;  nor  as  slaves,  to  be  dragged, 
willing  or  unwilling,  into  the  gateway  of  heaven. 

These  two  gi-eat,  basal  principles,  being  kept  in  view, 
the  Church  of  to-day — as  Christ's  promise  is  true,  and 
kept — can  be  found.  In  her  on  earth  man  may  reach 
the  highest  human  development  of  noble  manliness, 
compatible  with  the  limitations  of  time,  and  the  sur- 
rounding darkness  of  sin.  In  her  also,  he  may  be  as- 
sured of  the  fulness  of  grace.  He  cannot  mould  and 
make  her,  but  he  can  and  ought  to  find  her,  and  re- 
vere her  as  mother,  even  the  Bride  of  Christ.  She  can 
give  him  organic  union  with  the  Lord  of  life,  and  bind 
him  to  God  forever,  by  a  link  fastened  to  his  subcon- 
scious self.  She  can  nourish  him  therein ;  while  he, 
faithful  to  his  godlike  human  dignity,  may  never  part 
with  aught  of  true  Hberty,  nor  diminish  the  glory  and 
responsibihty  of  conscious,  direct,  and  free  personal  ac- 
countability to  the  personal,  Triune  God. 


358  THE    CJREED    AND   MODERN   THOUGHT, 


"Sri}e  SoY^ivcntfSS   of  sins'';    "3   acknotokbgc 
one  jBaptism  for  tl)e  remission  of  sins/' 

Evil,  "  moral  discord,  or  moral  friction  " — call  it  by  any 
name — is  acknowledged,  and  its  existence  confessed ! 
Sin  follows  as  a  possible  consequence  to  free  men.  Evil 
is  a  mystery,  insoluble  by  human  ingenuity  ;  while  its 
accordance  with  the  eternally  supreme  Good,  and  its 
mode  of  harmony  with  God's  love  are,  as  yet,  incompre- 
hensible by  man's  understanding.  It  is  nevertheless  at 
least  a  temporal  fact.  Wise  "  men  of  good  will  "  bring, 
not  their  understandings  but  their  common  human 
natural  faculty  of  faith,  to  bear  upon  this,  as  upon  all 
mysteries.  Taking  the  position,  that  *  God  is  the  custo- 
dian of  His  own  consistency ',  they  acknowledge  facts, 
confess  their  inability  to  discover  the  links  of  all  moral 
harmony,  and  deal  with  realities  practically.  One  of  the 
grossest  follies  of  the  "  wisdom  of  this  world  "  is  the  ar- 
gument, that,  because  God  is  love  and  His  goodness  su- 
preme, therefore  evil  must,  at  some  period,  terminate, 
come  to  an  end  and  cease  to  be.  The  same  premise 
would  equally  lead  to  the  conclusion,  that  evil  cannot 
possibly  enter,  or  ever  have  entered  into  God's  universe. 
This  dilemma  is  sometimes  met  by  the  grimly  grotesque 
assertion  that  evil  is  not,  and  that  what  we  call  evil  is 
only  distortion  of  fancy,  corruption  of  imagination,  or 
mere  spiritual  invasion  by  powers  or  men  from  without. 
Still  the  dilemma  holds  us  ;  for,  supposing  it  all  a  decep- 
tion, the  deception  itself  is  an  evil,  real  and  practically 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      359 

terrible,  both  in  extent  of  influence  and  intensity  of  tor- 
ture. Thus  at  every  hand  evil  baffles  the  human  under- 
standing, and  confuses  human  reason.  Man  however, 
when  thus  baffled  and  perplexed,  is  not  "  at  his  wit's 
end  ".  He  may  choose  to  say  that  he  is  confounded. 
He  may  even,  at  will,  plunge  into  confusion  ;  and  rest 
therein  with  desperate,  or  dogged,  or  proud  despair. 
The  downward  ways,  out  of  the  strait  and  straight,  nar- 
now,  upward  path  of  true  manliness,  are  fearfully 
numerous  and  frequent  at  every  stage  of  personal  or 
general  human  progress.  In  fact  however  man's  ex- 
tremity, here  as  everywhere,  displays  his  natural  depen- 
dence upon,  and  therefore  imperative  personal  need  of 
the  personal  God.  Perplexed  in  mind  and  heart  and 
soul  by  evil,  and  sorely  distressed  by  it  in  body,  the 
whole  man — scorning  the  unmanly  folHes  of  desperation, 
doggedness  or  despair — lifts  up,  and  holds  up  himself 
before  the  veil,  wrings  out  of  his  trembhng  spirit  the 
word  of  faith,  utters  Credo  with  strong  though  gasping 
voice,  and  casts  all  his  care  on  God.  This  is  the  very 
loftiest,  and  yet  the  most  humbhng,  exercise  of  the  hu- 
man will :  loftiest,  because  it  is  direct,  personal  and  com- 
plete consent  with  God  ;  most  humbling,  because  it  in- 
volves self-abnegation,  with  unreserved  reliance  on,  and 
full  trust  in  God  alone.  It  is  entire  and  willing, 
personal  self-consecration  of  a  free  but  self-insufficient 
creature  to  the  One  Creator,  Euler,  and  only  satisfactory. 
Fatherly  Friend. 

From  this  mental  and  spiritual  conflict  the  believers 
come  forth,  no  more  ready  than  before  to  account  for 
evil,  but  strong  in  that  which  is  the  "  substance  of  things 
hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen  ".  Heb.  XI.  1. 
Nor  is  faith  a  merely  convenient  excuse  for  perplexity. 
It  is  a  natural  faculty,  and  one  most  common,  general, 


SCO      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

and  indispensable.  It  acts  in  and  through  all  the  needs 
and  operations  of  humanity,  and  belongs  to  all  kinds  of 
personal  intercourse.  We  eat,  and  sleep,  and  clothe 
and  shelter  ourselves,  and  buy  and  sell,  and  travel  and 
rest,  all  in  and  by  faith.  It  is  because  we  beHeve  in  and 
trust  others,  that  we  are  enabled  to  hold  intercourse  at 
all.  Now  this  general  necessity,  educing  a  common  re- 
sponsive confidence,  tho'  limited  between  men,  may  be 
unlimited  between  man  and  God.  On  earth  we  divide 
our  faith,  and  apply  it  in  parts  and  degrees  to  lovers  and 
friends  and  servants  or  served  ones,  and  tradesmen,  and 
guides,  and  all  towards  whom  we  stand  in  necessary  re- 
lations, or  with  whom  we  voluntarily  form  relations,  either 
temporary  or  permanent :  but  faith  towards  God,  if  true 
and  real,  is  simply  limitless.  It  extends  even  to  trust 
complete  amid  apparent  confusion.  Not  indeed  that  we 
can  believe  contradiction,  in  or  of  God,  but  can  truly, 
even  eagerly,  trust  in  Him,  when  ourselves  confused  ; 
on  the  ground,  that  He  is  in  Himself  Truth,  and  may 
therefore  be  confided  in,  as  surely  consistent  with  Him- 
self, and  deeply  in  harmony  with  all  His  Universe,  how- 
ever to  us,  in  our  narrow  sphere  and  short  time,  confu- 
sion may  seem  to  prevail. 

Thus  the  fact  of  evil,  properly  viewed  even  by  human 
reason,  leads  to  enlarged,  illumined  perceptions  of  the 
one,  common,  human  need  of  personal  trust  in  God  ; 
while  the  natural  faculty  of  faith,  called  forth  and  guided 
to  its  highest  object,  refines,  expands  and  ennobles  god- 
like man  ;  and  humility — the  basis  and  condition  of 
faith  in  God — leads  man  without  servility  to  stand,  open 
to  the  base  of  character,  before  God,  "Who  respects  His 
own  image,  and  delights  in  one  who  in  dignified  lowli- 
ness feels  necessity,  and  claims  "liberty,  to  enter  into 
the  Holiest ".     Heb.  X.  19. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOtJGHT.      861 

Sin  however  has  grown  out  of  evil.  The  mystery  po- 
tent for  good,  has  been  and  is  by  man's  free  will  per- 
verted. Tlie  dignity  of  human  freedom  must  not  be  in- 
fringed. Godlike  man  can  do  as  he  will,  even  about  evih 
This  is  not  only  a  fact,  clear  to  present  observation,  fill- 
ing all  past  history,  and  portentous  towards  the  future  ; 
but  it  is  a  necessity  of  our  nature.  Neither  good  nor 
evil  can  be  forced  into  us,  irrespective  of  our  direct  or 
indirect  choice,  for  that  would  destroy  the  essence  of 
manliness.  Hence  while  evil,  properly  dealt  with,  leads, 
thro'  confusion  of  human  knowledge  and  judgment  by 
the  guidance  of  faith,  to  that  noblest  exaltation  of  man 
wherein,  person  with  person,  he  casts  all  his  care  on 
God  ;  yet  the  same  evil,  remaining  "  the  mystery  of  ini- 
quity ",  may  be  perversely  dealt  with.  Instead  of  turn- 
ing towards  God  in  confidence,  patience  and  deepest 
trust,  man  may  turn  away  from  Him.  This  turning 
away  is  actual  and  formal  sin.  Its  consequence  is  per- 
sonal estrangement  from  God.  Kesults  flow  from  it,  va- 
rious in  kind  and  degree,  innumerable  as  to  instances  or 
manifestations,  as  well  as  naturally  endless  in  duration. 
The  catalogue  of  possible,  particular  sins  need  not  here 
be  considered.  It  is  only  necessary  to  recognize  per- 
sonal distrust  of  God,  as  the  foundation  or  rather  es- 
sence of  all  sin.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark,  that 
every  form  of  sin  starts  from  this  beginning  ;  and  is  per- 
vaded throughout  by  this  influence. 

In  man  however  there  is  no  help.  When  once  he  has 
exerted  his  necessary  manly  freedom,  in  choosing  not  to 
believe  and  trust  God,  he  virtually  and  practically  and 
eflectually  chooses  something,  or  some  person,  other  than 
God.  He  may  disbelieve  altogether,  and  choose  "  noth- 
ing "  in  place  of  God.  He  may  confide  in  '*  nature  "  or 
"force",  or  "himself"  or  the  "devil",  according  to  his 
J6 


8G2      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOrGHT. 

faith.  Realities  however  are  not  created  by  man's  opin- 
ions. They  exist,  not  indeed  of  themselves,  but  carry 
"svith  themselves  the  full  force  of  the  law  of  the  universe, 
under  the  resistless,  ever-present,  executive  action  of  the 
Lord  of  the  universe.  Hence  whoever  distrusts  and 
turns  away  from  God  incurs  naturally,  not  only  absence 
from  truth  and  goodness,  but  whatever  penalty  may  be 
appointed  by  Him  "  Who  cannot  deny  Himself,"  "  Who 
will  not  give  His  glory  to  another,"  Who  must  for  the 
sake  of  His  own  consistency  maintain  His  own  royaltj'', 
and  before  Wliom  willingly  or  unwillingly  "  ever}'  knee 
shall  bow  .  .  and  every  tongue  shall  confess".  Eom. 
XIV.  11..  Is.  XLV.  23.   Phil.  n.  10. 

Bitter  and  fearful  as  sin  is,  therefore  it  must  be  possi- 
ble because  man  is  godlike.  The  question,  whether  it 
were  worth  while  to  create  such  a  godlike  creature,  like 
the  question  as  to  the  economy  of  evil,  is  unanswerable 
by  the  human  mind  and  heart.  It  is  however  unanswer- 
able, not  because  a  positive  contradiction  meets  us,  but 
because  the  major  premise  of  the  argument  is  too  vast 
for  human  comprehension.  God  only  can  grasp  the 
compass  of  all  things  in  all  time,  and  therefore  He  only 
can  estimate  the  economies  of  both  evil  and  sin. 

Leaving  therefore  questions  too  high  for  them,  all 
*'  men  of  good  will  "  turn  to  the  human  side  of  the  fact 
of  sin,  and  confine  their  investigations  wholly  to  that 
rjide.  There  God  is  perceived  treating  with  His  free 
creature,  and  that  free  creature  is  seen  turning  away 
from  God,  The  only  history  extant,  of  the  origin  and 
early  career  of  man,  exactly  accords  with  universal  hu- 
man consciousness.  Every  man  testifies  to  himself,  that 
his  whole  self — soul,  body  and  spirit — can  distrust  and 
turn  away  from  God  at  will.  It  is  recorded  of  the  first 
human  pair,  that  they  did  this  very  thing.     Sin  therefore 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.       3G3 

waSj  originally,  a  mere  thought  of  faithlessness.  The 
first  act  of  disobedience  was  a  consequence  of  preceding 
sin,  as  well  as  in  itself  sin.  Thus,  added  to,  sin  began 
to  accumulate.  Its  aUiances  and  consequences,  with 
their  complications,  and  the  conflicts  that  have  resulted, 
belong  to  the  external  history  of  human  progress  or  re- 
gress. The  Creed  does  not  relate  incidentally  the  ag- 
gregate of  man's  fortunes,  but  it  deals  directly  with  the 
unit  of  person  and  the  unity  of  race,  as  to  their  practical 
bearings  and  receptive  reactions.  Now  the  first  sinner 
was  the  father  of  all  humanity.  Adam  was  man.  Po- 
tentially the  whole  human  race  existed  in  Adam.  Never 
since  has  a  man  been  created.  Human  persons  are  gen- 
erated and  born.  All  nature  is  pervaded  by  the  law  of 
cause  and  effect,  under  which  the  essence  of  being  is 
transmitted  from  progenitor  to  progeny  ;  and  this  so 
long  as  progeny  continues  to  be  produced. 

The  man  sinned.  Not  his  mind  merely,  nor  his  heart 
or  hand  only ;  but  the  person  Adam  distrusted  God. 
The  I,  the  complete  and  whole  identity  of  the  first  man 
chose  to  disbelieve,  and  acted  in  disobedience.  This 
mysterious,  and  to  man — because  he  cannot  stand  out- 
side and  comprehend  himself— necessarily  indescribable, 
but  none  the  less  known  and  felt,  complex  unit  of  per- 
son, entered  into  sin.  It  would  be  presumptuous  to  ar- 
gue, because  sin  thus  penetrated  the  central  person  of 
Adam,  that  it  therefore  poisoned  the  germ  of  humanity  ; 
and  hence  every  child  born  into  the  world  would  be 
bom  in  sin,  and  would  inherit  not  only  the  condemna- 
tion incurred  by  the  first  father,  but  the  very  taint  of  sin 
itself  with  its  consequent  diseased  proclivity  to  evil.  It 
is  however  not  presumptuous,  but  inevitable,  to  conclude 
that  such  might  be  the  natural  consequence.  Indeed  all 
natural  analogies  suggest  its  probability  :  hence  the  bur- 


3G4:      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

den  of  proof  is  not  on  those  who  accept,  but  on  those 
who  deny  it.  We  should  look  for  it,  and  any  facts  ob- 
served should  if  possible  have  their  interpretation  laid 
upon  it.  In  truth  it  is  the  simplest  and  easiest  way,  by 
which  to  account  for  th6  universal  prevalence  in  all  ages 
and  nations  and  persons,  of  the  sinful  proclivity,  with  its 
consequent  transgressions.  Herein  the  underlying  fact 
of  the  unity  of  humanity — which  all  human  investigation 
confirms,  to  which  our  consciousness  assents — presents 
its  clouded  side  to  our  consideration.  We  see  ourselves 
overshadowed  by  the  evil  that  is  around  humanity,  and 
permeated  by  the  sin  that  he,  who  first  held  in  his  own 
person  the  whole  germinal  principle  of  humanity,  ad- 
mitted into  himself.  Sin  therefore  belongs  to  the  human 
constitution,  and  is  part  of  the  human  inheritance.  It 
accompanies  that  mysterious  development  from  the  origi- 
inal  human  germ,  whereby  distinct  persons  continue  to 
appear — constituting  the  successive  generations — while 
yet  the  unit  of  race  remains. 

There  is  another  aspect  of  sin,  which  will  come  again 
into  view  presently.  Now  we  are  looking  only  at  its  na- 
tural transmission.  That  it  is  thus  transmitted,  both  ob- 
servation and  experience  emphatically  show.  Not  only 
do  particular  moral  imperfections  and  faults  of  ancestors 
appear  specifically  in  descendants  ;  but  their  conse- 
quences are  developed,  in  remote  lineal  relations.  Thus 
both  the  disease,  and  the  penalty  of  sin  follow  the 
blood. 

Holy  Scripture  accords  herein  with  human  observa- 
tion and  experience.  It  is  only  necessary  to  quote,  in 
proof,  the  closing  of  the  second  commandment :  "for  I, 
the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity 
of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me  ".   Ex.  XX.  5. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      3G5 

This  natural  depravity,  or  birth-sin,  does  not  involve 
personal  responsibility.  Inasmuch  as  it  befalls  us  with- 
out our  will,  it  cannot  of  itself  destroy  us.  "What  God — 
as  we  have  seen — wiU  not  do,  He  will  not  permit  any  other 
power  to  accomplish.  As  He  respects  His  own  image  in 
us,  and  will  not  even  save  us  without  our  own  assent  and 
cooperation,  so  also  He  now  cannot  and  wiU  not  permit 
us  to  be  destroyed,  without  our  active  or  passive  will. 

Herein,  as  ever,  we  find  Holy  Scripture  in  accordance 
with  right  reason.  It  is  written  :  "  For  because  through 
the  offence  of  the  one  the  many  be  dead,  much  more  the 
grace  of  God,  and  the  gift  by  grace,  which  is  by  the  one 
man  Jesus  Christ,  hath  abounded  unto  the  many  ".  Rom. 
V.  20.  Similar  passages  are  numerous  in  Scripture,  all 
agreeing  with  the  results  of  deep  study  of  humanity  and 
profound  experience  of  its  condition.  They  all  accord 
also  with  that  great  principle,  pervading  God's  dealings 
with  man,  by  which,  tho'  natural  consequences  remain 
in  full  operation,  the  will  of  man  is  kept  free,  while  its 
resultant  of  personal  right  or  responsibility  is  preserved 
intact. 

Thus  Christianity  stands  us  in  front  of  facts,  regard- 
less of  their  portents,  and  undismayed  by  darkness. 
Modem  Thought  is  disposed  to  escape  the  force  of  birth- 
sin,  by  denying  its  existence.  It  thus  displays  its  re- 
lationship with  "worldly  wisdom."  Shutting  the  eyes 
is  a  common  art,  we  will  not  say  artifice,  of  the  worldly 
wise.  Man  cannot  afford  to  "bury  his  head  in  the  sand  ", 
until  evil  overtakes  him.  He  can  more  safely,  as  well 
as  more  consistently  with  manliness,  face  it ;  and  try 
conclusions  with  it.  Feeling  his  original  godlikeness, 
and  holding  faithfully  to  it,  he  has  the  natural  right  to 
say,  "Since  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us". 
Rom.  YIIL.  31. 


366      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

Eevelation,  coining  down  the  ages  like  a  banner  of 
light  borne  up  unfolding  by  the  historic  yet  living 
Church,  sheds  its  beams  upon  the  dismal  fact  of  birth- 
sin  ;  and  shows  it  perfectly  consistent  with  humanity  as 
known,  and  with  God  both  as  man  needs  Him  and  as 
He  is  revealed.  It  hides  nothing.  It  avoids  nothing. 
It  ignores  nothing.  It  answers  every  real  question  and 
doubt,  whether  springing  from  longing  human  conscious- 
ness, or  arising  from  bold  reason  backed  by  humble  un- 
derstanding. It  uses  the  plain  word  "sin",  declaring 
forgiveness  for  it;  and  this,  without  any  avoidance  of 
deepest  searchings  into  it,  and  into  man  as  affected  by 
it ;  and  without  the  least  recoil  from  any  questions  that 
true  and  reverent  boldness  may  propound.  Christ  ap- 
pears as  the  antidote  to  the  disease  of  sin.  "  For  as  in 
Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive  ", 
1  Cor.  XV.  22  :  He  also  comes  as  humanity's  "  last  Adam 
a  quickening  spirit ",  "  bearing  our  sins  in  His  own  body 
on  the  tree  ",  v.  45,  "  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  that 
come  unto  God  by  Him  ".     Heb.  VH.  25. 

The  last  Adam,  the  Christ,  the  Godman,  entering  per- 
sonally the  germinal  centre  of  humanity,  ever  bearing 
the  full  power  of  Divine  grace,  not  only  takes  upon  Him- 
self the  sin-penalty  of  the  first  Adam,  but  plants  in  every 
person  born  into  the  world  a  revivifying  force  by  which 
that  person  is  raised  out  of  death  into  life.  Birth-sin 
therefore  inherited  from  Adam  is  remedied,  not  removed 
as  we  shall  notice  hereafter,  but  remedied  by  the  second 
Adam,  Who  was  immaculate  in  birth,  and  victorious  in 
fact  over  evil  and  the  Evil  One. 

Once  more  we  are  brought  to  the  brink  of  possible 
human  knowledge.  Without  however  entertaining  ques- 
tions that  lie  outside  the  scope  of  human  understanding, 


THE  CKEED  AND  MODEKN  THOUGHT.      3G7 

and  especially  without  answering  'how  justice  is  recon- 
ciled witli  the  fearful  consequences  of  sin's  penalty,  and 
of  corruption  proceeding  from  Adam's  disbelief ' ;  and 
merely  reasserting  and  holding  strongly  the  assurance 
of  the  Divine  consistency — setting  to  our  "seal  that  God 
is  true  ",  S.  Jn,  m.  33 — we  note  and  accept  the  two  cor- 
relative facts,  of  the  natural  transmission  of  sin  and  of 
the  coextensive  remedy,  sent  forth  by  the  great  God,  yet 
loving  Father,  through  the  Incarnation  of  The  Son. 

It  is  not  claimed,  be  it  observed,  that  the  Creed  asserts 
this  natural  operation  of  sin,  with  its  natural  counter- 
action by  grace  through  the  Incarnation.  Belonging  to 
the  Covenant  between  God  and  man,  the  Creed  confines 
its  formal  expressions  to  the  requirements  of  the  Cove- 
nant It  is  only  argued  that,  in  this  article  on  sin,  it  ii 
at  agreement  with  all  the  facts  of  sin.  God  is  over  all. 
Even  those  who  either  know  not  or  accept  not  His  cove- 
nant, are  subjects  of  His  law,  as  well  as  objects  of  Hi3 
love.  As  His  law  is  wider  than  our  understanding,  and 
His  love  larger  than  our  charity,  we  may  be  content  to 
leave  "  the  destinies  of  the  heathen  "  in  His  hands.  We 
may  stand  looking  out  on  one  hand  upon  the  vast  hordes 
— ^living,  dead  and  unborn — of  the  sin  stricken  ;  and  on 
the  other  looking  up  patiently  to  Him  of  Whom  it  is 
wi'itten,  He  is  "  jealous",  "  merciful ",  "  long  suffering  ", 
*'  angry  with  the  wicked  ",  "  God  is  love  ". 

Birth-sin  is  met  at  the  beginning  of  every  entrance  into 
covenant  with  God.  The  Church,  as  the  household  of 
God,  receives  children  by  adoption.  Whether  babe  or 
man  seek  admission,  his  birth-sin  offers  the  first  impedi- 
ment. Already  the  natural  counteraction  of  birth-siu 
has  been  considered.  By  admission  to  the  Church  how- 
ever, the  person  is  taken  up  and  out  of  the  uncovenanted 
natural  condition,  and  placed  in  one  of  sure  hope  through 


363  THE    CREED    AND   MODERN    THOTTGnT. 

grace.  His  natural  relation  to  the  Second  Adam  is  sup- 
plemented by  a  covenant  relation  to  God.  Both  rela- 
tions are  actual  and  germinal.  A  positive  operation  goes 
on  in  either  case.  In  the  one  case,  the  human  creature 
may  indeed  be  plied  hopefully,  with  motives  and  influ- 
ences for  good  ;  but  in  the  other,  personal  grafting  into 
the  Godman  being  assured,  he  may  be  tended  and 
"nourished  up  "as  an  already  living  branch  of '*  The 
Vine". 

The  Covenant,  while  consistent  with  the  natural  out- 
flow of  vivification  through  the  Second  Adam,  supple- 
ments it  with  a  personal  new-birth  by  adoption,  thro* 
baptized  membership  into  Christ.  "  For  as  many  of  you 
as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on  Christ  ". 
Gal.  ni.  27.  The  operation  is  distinguished  by  definite- 
ness  and  certainty.  Like  generation,  regeneration  is 
not  our  own  act ;  and  the  following  birth  or  new- birth, 
are  also  superhuman.  In  other  words  God  generates 
and  regenerates.     He,  only,  gives  birth  and  new  birth. 

We  have  hitherto  amply  proved  and  illustrated  the 
fact,  that  the  Son  is  the  actor  in  all  Divine  works  and 
effects.  Baptism  is  the  only  known  door  of  entrance 
into  the  Divine-family.  It  must  therefore  have  a  Divine 
operation,  hidden  like  the  vitalizing  force  which  only  the 
"  Lord  and  Giver  of  Life  "  bestows  :  as  well  as  a  visible 
sign,  effecting  and  sealing  visible  admission  to  God's 
Kingdom  on  earth. 

Exactly  these  two  provisions  are  made  in  the  Sacra- 
ment of  Holy  Baptism.  The  closing  words  of  the  first 
gospel,  taken  in  connexion  with  the  literal  testimony  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist,  make  this  point  luminously  clear. 
In  the  first.  Baptism  is  set  forth  by  Jesus  as  the  instru- 
ment of  discipleship,  while  He  promises  His  own  per- 
sonal presence  evermore.    In  the  other.  He  is  proclaimed 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.      369 

by  The  Spieit  thro'  the  prophet  as  "  The  Baptizing  One 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  " — 6  fSaTTTL^oiv  iv  TrvcvfxaTL  dytw — S. 
Jn.  I.  33.  Hence  the  living  Church,  evermore  invisibly 
but  actually  and  effectively  indwelt  by  "  The  Bridegroom," 
receives  living  children,  thro'  life  bestowed  by  "The 
Baptizing  One  "  ;  Who,  according  to  promise,  is  present 
whenever  His  appointed  or  allowed  ministers,  baptize 
with  water  "in  the  name  of  The  Father  and  of  The  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ".  Thus  the  outward  and  the  in- 
ward parts  of  baptism  are  kept,  with  each  part  exclusively 
confined  to  its  own  administrator.  The  Church,  being  a 
reahty  of  God's  own  ordering,  and  a  perpetuity  by  Christ's 
own  promise  ;  her  baptism  comprises,  both  an  outward 
visible  sign,  and  an  inward  spiritual  grace  ". 

Birth-sin,  hke  all  sin,  naturally  excludes  from  Divine 
favor.  Whatever  we  may  reasonably  believe  or  hope  about 
its  counteraction,  by  God's  mercy  through  Christ,  in  the 
heathen ;  we  know  by  the  already  quoted  words  of  the 
New  Covenant,  that  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
given  by  Jesus,  is  the  actual  bestowal  of  new  life.  About 
this  there  is  in  fact,  and  from  the  nature  of  the  case  can 
be  no  question.  The  only  possible  doubt  relates  to  the 
times  when,  and  the  persons  upon  whom  Jesus  confers 
His  baptism.  When  it  has  been  conferred,  then  the 
union  of  the  recipient  with  the  "New  Adam  "  becomes 
BO  complete,  that  aU  the  renovating  power  of  the  God- 
man  flows  into  him,  and  circulates  as  the  vital  fluid  of 
the  vine  pervades  the  branches,  and  is  returned  to  the 
trunk  and  root,  for  renewal  and  reflow.  Hence  the  or- 
ganism of  the  Church,  and  the  organic  union  and  com- 
munion of  every  member  with  Jesus,  Who  "  is  the  Head 
of  the  Body  The  Church  "  !  Col.  1. 18.  This  organic  union 
with  its  vitahzing  operations — though  primarily  suggested 
by  birth-sin,  for  which  they  are  especially  designed,  and  of 
16* 


370      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

"whicli  they  are  a  complete  remission  and  remedy — are 
effective,  but  not  irresistibly  so,  when  brought  into  con- 
tact with  "  actual  sin  "  so  called. 

Hitherto  the  sin  of  act,  i.e.  of  consciousness  and  free 
will,  has  not  been  considered  in  connexion  with  baptism. 
It  is  time  now  to  regard  that  connexion,  both  in  its  bear- 
ings upon  mankind  at  large,  and  upon  individual  char- 
acter and  destiny. 

Though  inseparable  from  the  unit  of  organic  human- 
ity, and  incapable  of  avoiding  its  natural  operations, 
every  morally  conscious  and  spiritually  perceptive  human 
person  "  must  give  account  of  himself  to  God."  This  in- 
dividual freedom — already  sufficiently  considered  as  a 
constituent  and  sign  of  man's  original  godlikeness — , 
being  untrammelled  mthin  the  scope  of  the  creature's 
capacity  and  opportunity,  must  be  free  to  commit  sin. 
This  is  evident  from  the  only  side  on  which  man  is  capa- 
ble of  viewing  his  relations  to  God.  The  liberty  of 
choosing  his  leader  or  lord,  being  essential  to  every  con- 
ception of  manhood,  that  the  common  human  conscious- 
ness accepts  as  satisfactorily  accordant  with  its  instincts, 
the  corollary  follows  ;  that  any  man  may  choose  either 
for  or  against  God.  This  includes  of  course  all  neces- 
sary consequences.  An  election  not  of  God  is  choice  of 
something  or  some  power  other  than  God.  This  is  es- 
sential sin  ;  whence  follows  departure  from  goodness, 
beauty,  purity  and  truth  ;  which  is  transgression,  or  re- 
sistance to  order  and  law,  the  outactions  of  sin. 

So  long  as  we  hold  thought  to  the  human  side  of  facts, 
and  refuse  to  follow  it  to  the  Divine  side — where  it  has 
no  status — the  whole  subject  of  sin  is  clear  to  the  human 
understanding.  "We  can  neither  know,  understand,  nor 
imagine,  thro'  any  human  powers  of  invention,  how  sin 
appears  to  God.     Hence,  if  any  knowledge  comes  from 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      371 

that  side,  it  must  come  through  revelation.  Revelation 
from  God,  as  we  have  already  amply  seen,  is  not  only  pos- 
sible, and  therefore  probable ;  but  is  a  fact  resting  on 
the  strongest  proof  ever  given  of  any  fact  whatsoever : 
being  repeatedly  attested  not  merely  by  the  abstract 
truthfulness  of  Jesus,  but  by  Him  saying.  "I  am  The 
Truth  "  and  verifying  His  word  by  consenting  prophecy 
and  history,  by  an  ever  visible,  witnessing,  organic  body  ; 
and  by  His  personal  constant  presence  in  His  Church,  as 
shown  by  her  wonderful  preservation  through  all  out- 
ward disasters  and  inward  rendings  ;  as  well  as  con- 
firmed by  competent  witnesses  who,  in  every  Christian 
age  and  now,  testify  that  Jesus  is  personally  known  to 
them,  thro'  gi-ace,  love  and  fellowship. 

This  revelation  from  God,  accords  with  the  human 
instincts,  and  supplements  human  knowledge.  It  de- 
clares that  the  penalty  of  sin  is  the  granting  of  man's 
choice.  Nothing  worse  can  happen  to  us.  Hence 
thought  abhors  the  idea  of  sin.  Modem  Thought  how- 
ever is  compelled,  by  awakened  and  freed  human  rea- 
son, to  entertain  it.  It  cannot  be  denied.  It  will  not 
go  into  banishment.  It  clings  to  the  conscience.  It 
takes  hold  on  the  heart  It  clamors  through  soul  and 
body  and  spirit.  Man  will  have  an  answer  to  his  ques- 
tions about  it.  All  "men  of  good  will  "ask  to  be  deliv- 
ered from  it. 

Forgiveness  faces  this  fact.  Nothing  else  does  face  it. 
Lovers  of  truth  come  together  at  forgiveness.  The  mind 
searches,  the  heart  cries  out,  the  will  freely  submits,  and 
forgiveness  meets  all  difficulties.  Man  retains  his  dig- 
nity, in  view  of  forgiveness  ;  because  this  forgiveness  is 
neither  compulsoij  and  thereby  enslaving,  nor  uncon- 
ditional and  thereby  destructive  of  reverence  for  God, 
the  great,  the  true,  the  holy  and  the  just 


372  THE   CREED    AND   MODERN   THOtTGHT. 

Forgiveness  therefore  is  a  matter  for  treaty,  for  a  cov- 
enant. The  Divine  revelation  so  declares  it.  It  takes 
its  place,  side  by  side,  with  all  other  facts  of  revelation. 
It  is  in  harmony  with  all  God's  word,  as  well  as  accordant 
with  the  realities,  and  all  true  philosophy  of  human 
nature.  It  is  essentially  one  thing,  and  bears  alike  on  all 
men.  Every  degree,  and  character,  and  kind  of  men 
need  forgiveness.  Its  outward  aspect  and  formal  details 
differ,  but  essentially  it  is  in  every  case  a  personal  matter 
between  God  and  every  human  creature.  The  morally 
conscious  must  make,  each  his  own,  peace  with  God. 

Penitence  and  faith  are  the  subjective  conditions  of  for- 
giveness. God  has  declared  these  conditions,  while  human- 
ity perceives  their  necessity  and  confesses  their  justice. 
God  shows  Himself  loving  and  merciful,  by  forgiving ; 
while  He  displays  His  consistency,  even  to  our  understand- 
ings, by  requiring  every  man  only  to  restore  what  Adam 
broke,  viz. :  personal  trust  or  faith  in  Him.  Sorrow  for  sin, 
or  penitence,  is  the  natural  emotion  and  necessary  princi- 
ple of  the  human  heart,  when  convinced  of  sin.  Penitence 
and  faith  are  as  necessary  to  man's  dignity,  as  they  are 
imperative  for  God's  honor.  They  exalt  the  creature,  in 
accordance  with  his  essential  natural  nobleness  in  crea- 
tion, before  God  ;  and  they  set  forth,  in  newly  revealed 
beauty  and  brilliance,  righteousness  and  peace,  mercy 
and  truth  as  they  beam  from  the  glorious  Trinity. 

If  Christianity  were  an  abstraction,  the  forgiveness  of 
sin  might  remain  as  an  idea,  to  work  subjectively 
through  the  progressive  line  and  mass  of  the  generations. 
It  might  take  its  place  in  philosophy  and  poetry  ;  and 
develop  amid  the  other  ideas,  that  flit  in  and  out 
through  the  forms  of  varying  civilization  and  culture. 
No  doubt  forgiveness  is  working  thus,  as  an  idea  with 
power,  not  only  through  thoughtful  heatlien  souls,  but 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      373 

througli  many  honestly  perplexed  minds  in  Christian 
lands.  The  Creed  however  presents  not  abstractions. 
It  declares,  under  one  form,  simply  "  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  "  ;  but,  in  the  other  form,  it  puts  this  article  forth 
as  part  of  that  completeness  of  truth,  which  recognizes 
the  organism  of  God's  kingdom  as  the  "pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth  ".  1  Tim.  HI.  15.  It  declares  therein 
"one  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins".  The  baptism 
suggests  "  the  Baptizing  One."  Forgiveness  of  sins,  for 
Christ's  sake,  made  possible  by  the  Incarnation,  effected 
in  the  Atonement,  vindicated  through  the  Kesurrection, 
assured  at  the  Ascension,  is  bestowed  in  that  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  is  the  baptism  of  Jesus. 

"The  Head  of  The  Body"  respects  His  own  insti- 
tution. His  appointed  ministers  administer  to  mortals, 
in  His  visible  Church,  the  matter  and  form  of  words  which 
He  set  forth.  He  is  with  them  according  to  promise.  In 
literal  obedience  "  men  of  good  will "  receive  from  duly 
authorized  ministers,  and  bring  their  babes  to  receive 
from  them,  "  the  water  and  the  word  ".  The  baptism  is 
made  complete,  by  that  internal  grace  of  spiritual  gift, 
bestowed  by  Him,  Who  is  both  the  New  Adam  and  the 
Divine  Lord. 

Into  the  perplexing  questions  about  baptismal  effects, 
under  varying  ages  and  conditions  of  the  recipients,  the 
Creed  does  not  enter.  They  may  be  safely  left  to  theo- 
logical research,  and  remanded  to  the  arena  of  earnest 
and  honest  controversy.  Only  this  we  now  rest  upon,  as 
surely  set  forth  in  the  Creed,  and  boldly  proclaimed  be- 
fore Modern  Thought,  viz. :  that  forgiveness — having 
God's  love  for  its  source,  and  the  Atonement  as  its  propi- 
tiatory instrument — is  not  only  assured  through  Christ, 
but  bestowed  upon  the  worthy  by  Christ  personally  in 
His  baptism  ;  and  further  that  this  forgiveness,  thus  be- 


374:      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

stowed,  conserves  man's  natural  dignity  and  illustrates 
God's  liigh  sovereignty. 

This  article  of  the  Creed,  viewed  at  large,  completes 
the  account  of  sin's  forgiveness.  Inevitable  penalty  is 
met  by  universal  redemption.  Superabounding  grace 
contravenes  inherited  corruption.  Pardon,  through  peni- 
tential obedience  of  faith,  is  provided  against  actual 
transgressions.  "  The  Lord  and  Giver  of  Life  "  is  the 
vivifying  source  of  grace.  "  The  Word  of  God  ",  Who  is 
God  the  Son,  "the  last  Adam,"  "baptizeth  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  ".  The  visible  kingdom  of  God,  The  Church,  the 
Body  of  Christ  does  its  appointed  part  of  the  work. 
God's  honor  is  vindicated,  before  Earth  and  Heaven,  His 
love  illustrated  and  His  justice  signalized  :  while  all 
"men  of  good  will",  humbled  but  godlike  still,  with 
those  innocent  of  actual  transgressions,  become  "par- 
takers of  the  Divine  nature  ",  2  S.  Pet.  I.  4,  "  children  of 
God,  and  if  children  then  heirs,  heirs  of  God  and  joint 
heii-s  with  Christ".   Eom.  YHI.  17.    Gal.  lY.  6,  7. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      375 


**  ®l)e  Rc0itrrecttOtt  of  i\)t  boir^-* 

**  2lniJ.  3  look  for  i\]t  ^tsnxxtction  of  tl)e 

htabr 

The  immortality  of  the  soul  is  a  doctrine  accepted  by 
many  wise  heathen.  They  who  follow  "the  light  of 
Nature  ",  have  riot  failed  to  learn,  or  at  least  to  conceive 
that  personal  identity  survives  death.  That  irrepressi- 
ble, subconscious,  yet  distinct  perception  of  self — where- 
in fear  centres,  whence  desire  goes  forth,  whereon  hope 
rests,  and  which  all  mankind  alike  possess — is  inevitably 
productive  of  questionings  as  to  the  periods,  places  and 
conditions  of  self-existence.  The  mind  will  study  the 
problem  of  personal  life  ;  and  will  make,  or  discover,  or 
learn  some  view  of  its  future.  The  analogies  of  other 
human  lives,  observed  or  learned  from  the  true  records 
of  history,  shed  Hght  over  the  future  probabilities  of 
every  one's  existence  ;  but  such  light  shines  only  on  this 
Bide  the  grave.  The  dust  of  death  covers  and  quenches 
it.  Singularly,  the  distinguishing  monumental  symbol 
of  the  oldest  people  in  the  line  of  Western  Civilization 
— the  Obehsk — shows  that  the  founders  of  modern 
thought  saw  the  light  of  life  expanding  from  an  un- 
known centre  somewhere  on  high,  and  going  down  in 
full  shining,  with  still  expanding  beam,  into  the  grave. 
The  concurrent  opinions  of  thinking  men  in  all  ages 
have  consented  in  regarding  every  man's  life,  and  all- 
humanity's  existence,  as  coming  from  an  unseen  source, 


37G      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.' 

and  reacliing  here  on  earth  not  completion,  but  only  a 
very  early  stage  of  development  or  expansion.  Kaces, 
and  nations,  and  individuals,  hardly  trace  the  outlines  of 
their  capacities,  before  the  dust  covers  them,  and  their 
places  know  them  no  more. 

Pondering  these  things,  many  philosophic  men  of  the 
old  schools  reasonably  concluded  that  death  was  not  the 
end  of  personal  life,  but  only  a  door  between  two  of  its 
stages.  That  philosophy  which  views  man  as  material 
in-  essence,  and  therefore  deceived  in  his  common  irre- 
pressible assurance  of  distinct  personality,  is  both  re- 
pellant  to  natural  instinct  and  hateful  to  reason.  It 
either  ignores  the  fact  of  this  assurance,  or  with  bitter 
boldness  asserts  that  it  is  a  cheat,  fashioned  by  distem- 
pered hope,  and  built  of  airy  figments  by  restless  imagi- 
nation. Hitherto  this  degradation  of  man  to  classifica- 
tion as  a  higher  order  of  brutes,  has  been  successfully 
repelled.  It  has  been  shown  that  while  developments 
have  occurred  on  the  earth,  wherein  higher  types  of 
animal  existence  have  succeeded  one  another  in  progres- 
sive order,  yet  the  genera  and  species  have  fulfilled  each 
its  several  ends  of  being,  kept  the  blood  of  its  life  to 
itself  permanently  uncontaminated  by  crossing,  and  re- 
mained the  same,  individual  after  individual,  until  its 
career  as  a  race  was  run.  While  on  the  other  hand 
mankind  has  advanced,  through  varied  civilizations, 
without  evolving  a  tithe  of  its  capacities,  aijd  individual 
men  have  felt  and  claimed  and  manifested  the  utter  in- 
sufficiency, of  either  the  arena  or  length  of  mortal  life, 
for  the  outaction  or  expression  of  even  their  known  ca- 
pacities, and  still  less  for  those  capacities  which  lie 
swelling  with  germinating  force  in  the  common  human 
sub-consciousness. 

Should  the  links  be  ever  found,  by  which  the  doctrine 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      377 

of  evolution  may  be  lifted  out  of  its  present  unstable 
dangling  amid  ingenious  theories  ;  and  fastened  to  some 
principle  supported  by  fact,  then  that  argument  for 
man's  probable  immortality  which  rests  upon  his  pre- 
eminence over  the  brutes,  would  have  to  undergo  some 
formal  modifications.  Until  then  however  it  will  be  a 
fair  and  full  rebuttal  of  materialism — with  its  degrada- 
tion of  man  to  a  creature  of  instinct  having  no  moral 
status,  and  no  spirit-soul — to  show,  that  while  the  eagle 
of  to-day  is  the  same  in  habits  and  ways  as  the  one 
which  was  first  seen  rising  from  the  waters,  and  every 
animal  is  and  ever  has  been  unprogressive  on  its  original 
parental  type ;  man,  while  held  to  the  unit  of  humanitj^ 
has  manifested  wonderful  capacities  evidently  not  ma- 
terial, by  which  though  appearing  the  same  outwardly, 
he  has  ever  from  within  aspired  and  expanded  until 
he  has  filled  the  earth  with  devices,  some  material,  some 
psychical,  some  spiritual ;  and,  at  the  end  of  all  his 
works,  has  still  aspired,  and  yearned,  and  evinced  or 
avowed  his  sense  of  immortality. 

That  this  spiritual  distinction  of  man  may  be  one 
species  or  form  of  secretion  from  material  organism,  some 
seek  to  prove  by  attempting  to  show  that  animal  species 
have  evolved  themselves  by  natural  selection.  Assuming 
"force  "  (named  by  Herbert  Spencer  "The  power  mani- 
fested in  evolution  ")  as  the  All,  whence  every  existence 
springs  and  in  which  it  survives,  this  theory  attempts  to 
solve  the  problem  of  personaHty,  by  conveniently  re- 
manding it  to  the  domain  of  false  fancy.  This  is  unscien- 
tific. The  common  human  sense  of  personality  must  be 
received  as  fact,  because  it  is  universal.  If  the  "  All  ", 
when  called  "  Force  ",  or  "  The  Power  manifested  ",  can- 
not find  place  for  this  fact,  it  must  be  itself  displaced. 
Contradiction  is  inadmissable  in  materiaUstic  as  well  as 


378      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

in  theological  science.  Theology  indeed  admits  mys- 
teries ;  and  teaches  their  reasonableness,  while  holding 
out  prospects  of  their  future  solution  :  but  materialistic 
science  fails  wherever  it  denies,  ignores,  or  refuses  to 
face  fact ;  and  it  confesses  failure  whenever  it  remands 
fact  to  the  domain  of  fancy. 

Modem  science  is  no  more  able,  than  ancient  philoso- 
phy, to  deal  satisfactorily  with  the  deep  consciousness  of 
man,  or  mankind.  The  spirit  of  man — which  led  the 
worldly  wise  among  the  ancients  to  worship  according 
to  various  mythologies,  or  to  soar  to  the  comparative 
height  of  conceiving  the  soul's  immortal  existence,  amid 
beauty  and  uncontaminating  pleasure,  on  a  boundless 
field  forever — still  continues  in  every  man,  to  soar  be- 
yond matter,  and  to  claim,  assert  and  manifest  its  origin 
above  matter. 

It  is  impossible  to  remand  this  universal  human  con- 
sciousness of  a  spirit-sense,  to  the  domain  of  material- 
ism. The  most  careful  observation  of  the  operations  of 
the  human  brain,  or  of  any  or  all  the  human  material 
organs,  while  it  may  show  specific  motions  in  constant 
correlation  with  specified  thoughts  or  feelings,  can  never 
prove  that  the  material  motion  is  the  cause  of  the 
thought  or  feeling.  It  may  be,  with  at  least  equal  force, 
asserted  that  the  thinking  or  feeling  spirit  has  caused 
the  material  motions.  The  saying  that  "  the  brain  se- 
cretes thought  as  the  liver  secretes  bile  ",  not  only  vio- 
lates the  great  law  of  materialism  itself  that  *'  like  pro- 
duces like";  but  is  a  bald  "begging  of  the  question". 
The  whole  point  depends  upon  the  final  ground  of  all 
thought,  human  consciousness.  From  our  conscious- 
ness springs  perception  of  matter,  whence  through  rea- 
sons, opinions,  and  even  happy  guesses,  we  proceed 
into,  and  advance  material  science.     Certainly  the  same 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      379 

ground  cannot  be  denied  in  spiritual  investigations. 
As  well  deny  thought  altogether,  as  to  assert  that  ma- 
terial perception  is  our  ooly  basis  of  knowledge.  It  is 
not  a  basis  at  all.  It  is  a  layer  upon  a  basis  ;  and  that 
basis  is  consciousness.  They,  who  declare  the  existence 
in  man  of  a  spiritual  substance,  in  which  his  personality 
centres,  and  by  which  he  exhibits  faculties  and  exerts 
powers  not  of  the  earth  earthy,  not  confined  to  the  scope 
of  mortahty,  but  soaring  even  in  mortal  life  away  from 
earth,  and  assured — because  of  its  felt  need — of  a  larger, 
wider,  endless  and  sleepless  life  hereafter ;  only  claim 
the  right  they  accord  to  all,  of  starting  from,  and  of  aj)- 
pealing  to  the  common  human  consciousness. 

Consciousness  being  the  first  layer  in  every  structure 
of  knowledge,  and  general  consciousness  being  appealed 
to  in  proof  of  the  existence  of  a  spiritual  substance  in 
every  human  person,  in  which  rests  his  idea  and  sense 
of  personality  ;  it  is  evident  that  when  thus  appealed  to, 
an  end  is  reached.  Reasons  may  be  urged,  why  one 
should  carefully  examine  his  own  consciousness  ;  but 
nothing  further  can  be  reasonably  done  by  man  for  man. 
Eeligious  influences  may  be  resorted  to,  but  theu*  results 
are  between  God  and  his.  free  creature.  At  the  end,  the 
word  of  every  one's  consciousness  must  set  forth  his  own 
formal  acknowledgment  of  his  own  spiritual  sense,  or 
non-sense.  They,  however,  who  have  and  confess  the 
consciousness  of  spirit,  are  easily  satisfied  of  the  fact  of 
the  soul's  immortaUty. 

This  single  point  has  been  the  basis  of  many  theories, 
especially  among  the  Orientals,  respecting  both  past  and 
future  soul-life  ;  but,  because  of  their  one  basis  and  com- 
mon Hkeness,  they  do  not  here  demand  specific  consid- 
eration in  detaU. 

It  moreover  hardly  falls  within. the  scope  of  present 


380      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

argument  to  consider  the  spirit- soul  of  man,  in  compari- 
son with  the  life  principles  of  brutes  :  It  may  not  be  a 
wholly  useless  digi'ession,  however,  to  show  that  the  in- 
stinct of  immortality  is  neither  observed  in  brutes,  nor 
suggested  by  their  racial  or  individual  characteristics 
and  careers.  We  see  many  signs  in  brutes,  that  accord 
with  those  of  reason,  aifection,  and  imagination  in  man. 
They  are  however  without  language,  hence  have  no  vehi- 
cle of  abstracted  thought ;  and,  because  no  means  of  ex- 
pressing, therefore  no  faculties  for  perceiving  spiritual 
ideas.  They  have  never  manifestly  developed  beyond 
their  earHest  types.  They  have  never  traced  out,  nor 
wrought  an  abstract  opinion  into  concrete  form  and  suc- 
cession of  forms.  They  exhibit  nothing  stronger  than 
appetite,  passion,  and  instinct.  Even  their  imaginations 
are  incapable  of  corrupting  them.  While  men  can  stim- 
ulate appetite  and  passion,  by  pictures  in  words  or 
colors  ;  and,  by  masking  vice  in  attractive  garbs,  can 
destroy  their  bodies  thro'  excess  ;  brutes  never  fall  thus  : 
nor,  on  the  other  hand,  do  brutes  ever  control  their  de- 
sires by  any  notions  of  virtue,  duty,  decency,  or  beaut}^ 
There  is  undoubtedly  in  brutes  something,  underlying 
and  directing  the  material  organs  of  their  bodies.  There 
is  an  individuality  among  them,  of  which  they  are  evi- 
dently conscious.  They  are  selfish,  combative  and  affec- 
tionate. They  evince  several  qualities,  which  in  man 
conjoin  personality.  If  man  had  no  other  personal  qual- 
ities, he  and  the  brute  might  be  brothers.  If  he  were 
not  distinguishable,  as  to  his  sense  of  personal  identity 
and  the  subjects  grasped  by  that  sense,  as  well  as  by  his 
egoistic  consciousness,  then  indeed  he  might  be  con- 
fined, as  the  brutes,  to  a  merely  temporary  sense  or 
perception  of  individuality.  But  it  is  in  his  aspirations 
and  powers  of  abstraction,  as  well  as  in  his  moral  sense. 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      3S1 

and  spiritual  apprehensions  tliat  man's  personality  is  dis- 
tinguishable from,  and  not  only  preeminent  over  the 
brute's  individuahty,  but  even  shown  to  belong  to  an- 
other classification. 

It  may  be  fairly  asked  here,  if  the  soul  is  immortal, 
how  do  we  know  that  the  individuahty  of  brutes  may 
not  be  also  immortal  ?  It  may  be  even  argued,  that  the 
hfe-principle  of  brutes  may  be  a  substance,  as  well  as 
the  spirit  of  a  man ;  and,  if  a  man's  personality  centres 
in  that  substance,  whether  in  or  out  of  matter,  why  may 
not  a  brute's  individuahty  also  centre  in  a  soul-substance, 
now  in  but  hereafter  out  of  matter  ? 

Suppose  it  be  answered  that  we  do  not  know  about 
these  points !  What  if  the  life-principle  of  brutes  be 
part  of  an  imponderable  soul-like  substance,  as  diffused 
as  matter  ;  and  like  matter,  when  used  up  in  an  ending 
of  individual  brute  life,  resolved  into  the  great  mass  of 
substance  !  "What  if  there  be  place  and  room  in  the  uni- 
verse for  the  endless  reproduction  of-  ever  advancing 
types  of  brute  life.  Any  conjectures  about  brutes  need 
not  imperil  the  distinctive  position  of  man  in  the  uni- 
verse— set  forth  by  the  first  pronoun  of  the  Creed  and 
already  fully  argued — as  person,  having  body,  soul  and 
spuit,  and  being  by  nature  godlike,  and  therefore  not 
merely  preeminent  but  unique  in  creation. 

All  this,  however,  is  only  a  summary  of  well  known 
courses  of  philosophic  thought.  They  have  been  touched 
upon,  merely  to  show  that  the  Creed  does  not  require  us 
to  ignore,  much  less  despise  earnest  questions  about  na- 
ture. We  may  foUow  nature's  lessons,  as  far  as  we  can 
search  her  out.  Facts  without,  in  creation,  are  correla- 
tives of  facts  within.  Matter  suggests  spirit,  and  spirit 
perceives  matter  ;  while  consciousness  of  personality 
underlies,  or  rather  pervades,  both.    ♦ 


382      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

The  conscious  human  person ;  perceiving  the  union 
and  communion  in  himself  of  matter  and  spirit ;  and  be- 
ing convinced  by  the  revelation — hitherto  found  first 
l^robable,  then  authoritative,  then  authentic — of  his 
three-fold  constitution  of  body,  soul  and  spirit ;  admits 
all  these  into  his  practical  idea  of  person  or  self.  "While 
perceiving  his  material  oneness  with  minerals  and  soils 
and  plants,  and  discovering  his  soul-Hkeness  to  animal 
Hfe,  and  learning  his  aUiance  with  immortal  spirits  of  the 
upper  sphere,  together  with  his  likeness  to  God,  he 
gathers  all  these  together  into  his  central  self-conscious- 
ness. He  knows  and  is  assured  that  he  is  not  spirit 
alone,  nor  soul  alone,  nor  body  alone ;  but  that  every 
one  of  these  substances  are  taken  up  and  unified  in  him- 
self. The  whole  range  of  creation  centres  in  man.  His 
consciousness  includes  this  range.  It  is  surely  not  im- 
possible, that  his  immortality  may  include  the  same.  On 
Earth  man  is  supreme.  He  has  part  in  all  known  sub- 
stantial forms  of  existence.  As  matter  is  apparently  in- 
destructible, and  therefore  probably  destined  to  an  end- 
less existence  ;  it  is  surely  probable,  at  least,  that  man's 
immortality  shall  appear  in  a  renewed  body,  as  well  as 
soul  and  spirit. 

Grossness  and  corruptibility  are  not  of  the  essence 
of  matter.  Flesh  and  blood  are  temporal,  and  doubtless 
temporary  forms,  of  which  mortal  bodies  partake  ;  but 
every  living  mortal  changes  the  particles  and  appearances 
of  his  material  body,  while  he  never  changes  his  personal 
identity.  At  any  age  he  knows  his  own  body,  though 
he  cannot  say  that  he  retains  a  single  particle  of  the 
matter  with  which  he  was  born.  Evidently  while  body 
is  manifest  through  matter,  and  exists  in  matter,  it  con- 
trols matter  and  matter  does  not  constitute  it. 

Hence  science  haa  no  just  objection  to  the  doctrine  of 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      383 

the  Resurrection  of  the  Body.  The  germinal  form,  and 
central  essence  of  bodily  constitution  are  unknown.  The 
relations  of  matter  substance  with  soul  substance  and 
spirit  substance,  are  also  unknowTi.  Indeed  this  very 
term  substance,  tho'  used  of  either,  does  not  prove  an 
analogy  between  them.  From  facts  of  material  substance 
we  cannot  argue  about  the  others :  e.g.  divisibility,  im- 
penetrabihty  and  gravitation  belong  to  matter ;  but  may 
not  at  all  belong  to  soul  or  spirit.  It  is  vain  to  object 
against  the  possibility  of  the  Resurrection,  until  aU  sub- 
stantial characteristics  and  possibilities  of  material,  psychi- 
cal and  spiritual  existencies,  operations  and  combinations, 
are  discovered  and  described.  Though  every  sensible 
sign  of  the  dead  may  be  lost  to  mortals,  God  sees  it.  In- 
deed, it  is  possible  even  that  a  sub-microscopic  germ  of 
every  body  may  exist,  which  God  will  revive  and  cause 
to  clothe  itself  anew,  as  He  pleases,  out  of  the  wardrobe 
of  His  creation.  We  have  no  tests  by  which  to  discover, 
much  less  to  analyze  spirit-substance,  or  soul-substance  : 
nor  can  we  so  trace  matter  even,  as  to  determine  exactly 
where  lies,  and  in  what  consists,  the  germ  of  form.  Yet 
nothing  is  surer,  or  more  variously  and  widely  manifested 
than  that  germs  do  exist  in  matter,  which  are  upon  the 
whole  practically  unlimited  in  assimilating  capacity.  As 
a  whole  they  take  up  all  known  materials,  and  make 
them  up  into  forms.  It  is  impossible  to  say  of  any  germ, 
how,  or  how  long,  it  may  lie  dormant,  or  what  it  may  or 
may  nor  feed  upon,  or  assimilate.  What  nature  knows 
as  death,  is  the  return  to  germinal  renewals.  Man's 
death  only  follows  the  common  analogy  of  nature,  when 
its  bodily  germ  sleeps.  The  Resurrection  of  the  Body 
completes  the  round  of  natural  revivifications. 

If  it  be  said  that  seeds  of  plants  reproduce  the  very 
same  kinds  of  plants  on  which  they  grew,  and  if  it  thence 


3S4:      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

be  argued  that  the  Kesurrection  of  the  Body  must  be  a 
mere  return  to  mortal  life  such  as  we  are  now  living  ;  it 
may  be  answered  that  plant-seeds,  as  known  to  us, 
die  and  revive  not  in  a  new  but  in  the  very  same  cycle 
or  order  of  existence.  Cycles  must  be  confessed,  whether 
great  destructions  or  cataclysms  and  following  recon- 
structions be- alio  wed  or  denied.  The  "  testimony  of  the 
rocks  "  seems  to  show  a  series  of  cataclysms  in  the  mate- 
rial earth ;  while  the  mental,  moral,  social  and  political 
progress  of  historic  mankind  has  evidently  been  through 
a  terribly  sure  recurrence  of  "  overturnings."  Those, 
who  hold  to  a  regular  and  orderly  evolution  of  all 
things,  do  not  condescend  to  outward  evidence.  They 
say,  the  "  All ",  or  "  Force  ",  or  "  The  power  manifested  ", 
is  so  serenely  supreme,  that  it  would  be  inconsistent 
with  its  immeasurable  omnipotence,  and  irreconcilable 
with  its  omniscience,  to  bring  a  whole  natural  order  or 
cycle  to  sudden  destruction,  only  to  renew  it  again  in 
another  order  destined  to  the  same  fate.  This  is  a 
plausible  argument,  according  to  the  common  human 
conception  of  the  Supreme  ;  but  is  there  any  assumption 
more  absurd,  than  that  finite  man  can  conceive  of  the 
Infinite,  further  than  to  believe  in  Him,  and  to  learn 
from  Him,  as  He  may  choose  to  reveal  ?  Is  the  presump- 
tion most  amazing,  or  the  folly  most  preposterous,  which 
governs  those  thinkers,  who  profess  to  stand  within  the 
centre  of  light  and  power,  and  dare  to  say  what  nature 
must  be  and  must  show,  by  their  ovm  view  of  what  the 
Supreme  must  consistently  be  and  do. 

Some  believe  in  the  possible  future  advancement  of  man 
to  that  position,  close  by  God,  whence  he  may  look  out  on 
the  universe,  and  know  it,  not  as  a  mirror  reflecting  God 
and  truth,  but  rather  in  and  by  its  accord  with  that  supe- 
rior and  primary  knowledge  which  may  belong  to  those 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      3S5 

who  shall  become  "  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature  ".  2  S. 
Peter  L  4.  1  S.  Jn.  m.  2.  They  who  are  convinced 
that  the  time  of  this  union  and  communion  of  man  with 
the  Supreme  has  not  yet  come,  escape  self-complacency 
with  its  consequent  "science  falsely  so  called," by  study- 
ing nature  in  the  light  of  fact,  not  endeavoring  to  bend 
or  break  facts  into  accord  with  theories. 

Returning  from  this  apparent,  but  perhaps  not  unneces- 
sary digression,  we  find  in  the  existence  of  cycles  wherein 
the  details  of  natural  order  are  changed,  nature's  own  an- 
swer to  the  argument,  framed  against  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  from  the  similarity  of  the  plants  of  every  season 
to  those  of  the  preceding.  Whether  or  not  the  germs  of 
one  cycle  are  destroyed,  as  in  cataclysms,  and  those  of 
another  created  anew  ;  or  whether  a  vital  form  lay  dor- 
mant in  the  preceding  cycle,  which  in  the  existing  one 
becomes  again  vivified,  so  that  the  plant  of  the  new  era 
is  only  the  naturally  evolved  issue  of  the  worn-out  plant 
of  the  departed  era  ;  it  is  evident  that  nature  is  clothed 
anew  in  every  great  distinctive  period  of  her  progress, 
for  which  period  past  forms  are  not  fitted. 

The  revelation  of  "  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth ",  2 
S.  Pet.  nX  13,  exactly  accords  with  the  cycles  of  science. 
The  man  of  this  cycle  will  clearly  not  be  adapted  to  the 
new  heavens  and  new  earth.  Hence  his  resurrection 
cannot  be  to  a  renewal  of  the  corruptible  round  of  mor- 
tal life.  As  we  really  know  nothing  about  how  natural 
plant-seeds  survive  cataclysms,  or  how  they  overpass  the 
sure  even  if  indistinct  boundaries  of  cycles,  so  we  cannot 
push  the  argument  from  analogy  across  such  chasms  or 
boundaries.  The  dying  plant,  with  the  surviving  germ 
reproducing  again  the  same  plant,  only  suggest  or  illus- 
trate the  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  the  human  body.  It 
cannot  explain,  much  less  limit,  its  scope  of  reality  and 
17 


3S6      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

truth.  The  Resurrection  may  be  like  seed  and  plant  in 
one  particular,  but  go  vastly  beyond  it  in  many  others. 

With  characteristic  abruptness  towards  "those  who 
oppose  themselves,"  and  equally  characteristic  mental 
acumen  or  subtleness,  mingled  with  and  sealed  by  his 
consciousness  of  Divine  inspiration,  St.  Paul  deals  with 
this  very  argument  drawn  from  the  analogy  of  the  dying 
seed  and  the  reviving  plant. 

To  those  who  deny  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  alto- 
gether, he  says,  with  strong  emphasis,  "  Thou  fool,  that 
which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die  ".  1  Cor. 
XV.  36.  He  could  not  have  intended  to  be  discourteous. 
There  must  be  some  reason,  why  he  used  such  a  severe 
term.  That  reason  may  be  found  in  the  first  verse  of 
Psalm  XIV.  "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart  '  There  is 
no  God  '  ".  The  fool  is  the  unbeliever  in  heart,  the  per- 
son who  would  choose  truth,  not  according  to  its  essen- 
tial worth  but  according  to  his  own  wishes  or  fancies. 
To  those,  who  deny  the  Resurrection  wholly,  as  if  it  were 
in  all  respects  impossible,  the  analogy  of  the  dying  seed 
and  the  reviving  plant  is  a  direct  and  sufficient  answer. 
Every  one  should  search  his  heart,  and  settle  himself  to 
the  love  of  the  tinith  for  the  truth's  sake.  Otherwise  he 
may  prejudge  the  issue,  and  beg  the  question  by  saying 
in  heart  either,  *  There  is  no  resurrection  '  or  "  There  is 
no  God". 

To  the  subtler  meaning  in  the  question,  **  How  are  the 
dead  raised  up  ?  and  with  what  body  do  they  come  ?  "  v. 
35,  St.  Paul  proceeds  to  answer,  in  terms  that  are 
equally  applicable  to  the  same  question  as  it  reappears  in 
Modern  Thought.  He  replies,  essentially,  that  all  we 
know  fi'om  natural  analogies  is  that  we  plant  one  body 
and  reap  another.  Being  able  now  to  witness  both  the 
planting  and  the  reaping,  we  know  that  wheat  for  in? 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      387 

stance  will  produce  wheat ;  but  the  essential  fact  in  the 
case  is  that  "  God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased 
Him,  and  to  every  seed  his  own  body",  v.  38  :  therefore 
when  the  reaping  season  lies  beyond  our  observation, 
and  outside  our  analogies,  we  have  to  fall  back  upon  the 
essential  fact  of  God's  sovereign  power  and  will.  The 
Resurrection  may  call  forth,  from  the  immortal  seed  of 
man's  dead  body,  form  and  forces  adapted  to  a  new  cycle. 
There  is  nothing  in  this  impossible,  or  even  improbable, 
omnipotence  being  considered. 

The  Kesurrection — being  among  the  possibilities, 
suggested  by  many  analogies  of  human  experience,  but 
containing  that  element  of  transition  to  another  cycle  or 
order  of  existence,  which  transcends  aU  analogies — must 
rest,  as  to  its  own  speciahties,  upon  evidence.  As  we 
have  already  again  and  again  considered,  the  Bible,  as 
God's  Word,  is  all  bound  up  and  authenticated  in  the 
overwhelming  evidences  of  the  truth  of  Jesus.  The 
unity  of  the  New  Testament  is  part  of  the  great  mass  of 
fact,  that  rests  on  "  Christ,  the  Comer  Stone  ".  Hence 
what  S.  Paul  further  declai*es,  in  respect  to  the  Resur- 
rection, comes  with  the  authority  of  the  "Word  of  God." 

Fitting  itself  on  to  the  last  link  of  possible  human 
knowledge,  giving  fuU  force  and  weight  to  reasoning 
from  analogy,  the  Apostle  in  addition  reveals  what  is 
possible  for  the  human  mind  to  receive  and  understand, 
further,  upon  the  future  fact  of  the  Resurrection. 

"God  giveth  ....  to  every  seed  his  own  body". 
Thus  the  identity,  of  the  dead  body  and  the  body  raised 
again,  is  declared,  "His"!  "Own"!  The  one  person- 
ality of  the  dead  and  of  the  raised  from  the  dead,  is  not 
only  assured  ;  but  the  actual  essential  oneness  of  the  body 
itself — once  dead  and  afterward  raised — is  set  forth.  As 
flesh  is  the  substance  in  which  the  body  is  manifested  on 


388      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

earth,  "  The  resurrection  of  the  flesh "  is  an  expression 
of  high  authority.  If  we  accept  this  expression,  how- 
ever, we  need  not  push  it  to  the  extreme  of  supposing 
that  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh  involves  the  immortal- 
ity of  the  flesh.  Indeed  S.  Paul  in  this  very  discourse 
writes  "that  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  king- 
dom of  God,  neither  doth  corruption  inherit  incorrup- 
tion  ". 

It  is  conceivable  that  natural  objections  may  possibly 
be  made  to  a  fleshly  resurrection.  It  must  however  be 
remembered  that  "  the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept ",  v. 
20,  Jesus,  had  identically  the  same  body  in  which  He 
died  ;  and  yet  very  remarkable  powers  belonged  to  it. 
It  could  vanish.  It  could  transport  itself,  suddenly, 
from  place  to  place.  It  could  pass  through  closed  doors. 
It  could  also  eat  and  drink,  be  seen  and  handled.  Since 
such  possibiUties  belong  to  flesh,  any  natural  objections 
to  the  resurrection,  made  upon  material  grounds,  can 
easily  be  answered  in  the  well-known  words  of  the  poet 
of  human  nature  :  and  yet  probably  the  dreams  of  phi- 
losophy will  continue  yet  longer  to  be  urged  against  the 
plain  revelations  of  God's  word.  It  is  all  we  can  answer, 
and  should  be  enough,  for  lovers  of  the  truth  for  its  own 
sake,  that  the  Scriptures  do  reveal  the  Resurrection  of  the 
Body,  and  that  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh  is  not  a  nat- 
ural impossibility. 

A  distinct  and  sufiicient  object  for  such  resurrection 
appears  in  the  Great  Judgment :  **  For  we  are  all  to 
stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of  the  Messiah,  that  each 
may  receive  retribution  in  the  body  for  what  he  hath 
done  in  it,  whether  of  good  or  whether  of  evil ".  2  Cor. 
V.  10,  Syriac.  After  the  Judgment,  the  raised  flesh  may 
then  undergo,  for  aught  we  know,  a  transition  ;  as,  for 
aught  we  know,  did  the  flesh  of  Christ  when  "  He  was 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      389 

taken  up,  and  a  cloud  received  Him  out  of  their  siglit ". 
Acts  I.  9. 

.  Finally,  upon  this  point,  S.  Paul  declares  of  the  dead 
body,  "It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  incon-up- 

tion It  is  sown  a  natural  body  it  is  raised  a 

spiritual  body For  the  trumpet  shall  soimd  and 

the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible ".  The  Judg- 
ment is  here  passed  over.  The  Apostle  touches  only  on 
the  two  boundary  facts ;  viz.  the  natural  death  and  the 
final  effect  of  resurrection.  He  confines  himseK  also  to 
revealing  the  glorification  of  the  bodies  of  "them  . 
which  sleep  in  Jesus,"  1  Thes.  TV.  14,  as  he  elsewhere 
describes  their  triumph. 

All  these  revelations  leave  many  things  unknown  ;  but 
what  is  known  accords,  on  one  side,  with  mortal  expe- 
rience and  natural  knowledge.  It  links  the  future  to  the 
present,  and  then  leaves  us.  "We  may  imagine  what  we 
will,  and  paint  pictures  of  hope  according  to  our  capaci- 
ties and  tendencies.  All  this  is  lawful  Only  we  are  to 
keep  vrithin  our  scope,  and  not  be  wise  above  that  which 
is  written.  No  limit  is  set,  but  such  as  belongs  neces- 
sarily to  our  finite  condition.  As  we  are  hke  God,  we 
may  be  told  of  mysteries.  As  we  are  not  God,  we  can- 
not encompass  all  knowledge,  and  solve  all  mysteries. 
The  combinations,  disruptions,  and  reconstructions  ob- 
served on  earth,  prepare  our  minds  for  greater  things  to 
come.  We  know  not  now  the  means  of  union  between 
spirit,  soul,  and  body  ;  and  we  cannot  now  comprehend, 
perhaps  shall  never  more  than  apprehend,  the  assimilat- 
ing powers  by  which  here  on  earth  we  take  material  sub- 
stance up  in  body  ;  while  hereafter,  clothed  in  spiritual 
substance,  our  personal  identity  may  hold  we  know  not 
what  relation  with  the  everlasting  things  celestial,  and  the 
indestructible  though  renovated  things  of  earth. 


390      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

The  fact,  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  is  the  ground  of 
the  "  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  ".  "  The  last  Adam  " 
holds  the  human  race,  by  both  germ  and  norm,  to  Him- 
self forever.  Where  he  goes  humanity,  by  nature  and 
therefore  to  the  full  limit  of  merely  organic  operation, 
follows.  He  brought  back  His  body  from  the  grave,  and 
became  thus  the  "  Captain  of  salvation  "  the  restorer  of 
the  captives,  the  conqueror  of  death  for  all  men  :  "  Now 
is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead  and  become  the  first  fruits 
of  them  that  slept.  For  since  by  man  came  death,  by 
man  came  also  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  For  as  in 
Adam,  all  die,  even  so  in  Cheist  shall  all  be  made  alive  '*. 
1  Cor.  XV.  20-22.  Though  these  and  similar  testimonies 
of  revelation  have  a  spiritual  significance,  they  have  also 
a  natural  meaning.  The  Scripture  is  often  manifold,. in 
the  instructions  its  words  contain ;  but  one  meaning 
neither  excludes,  nor  becomes  displaced  by  others.  The 
death  in  sin  and  the  resurrection  unto  righteousness  are 
in  so  many  particulars  like  the  natural  death  and  resur- 
rection, that  the  same  words  may  be  used  to  reveal  and 
describe  either.  That  the  spiritual  meaning  did  not  ex- 
haust this  passage,  the  writer,  S.  Paul  himself,  afterwards 
declares  in  describing  some,  "  who  concerning  the  truth 
have  erred  saying  that  the  resurrection  is  past  already  ". 
1  Tim.  n.  17.  In  one  also  of  those  mighty  discourses, 
■wherein  "  the  Son  of  Man  "  declared  His  prophetical  office, 
and  evinced  His  human  perception  of  its  derived  authority, 
speaking  of  Himself,  by  authority  of  The  Father  whose 
mission  He  had  accepted  and  was  fulfilling,  Jesus  said : 
"  For  the  hour  is  coming  in  the  which  all  that  are  in  the 
graves  shall  hear  His  voice,  and  shall  come  forth  ;  they 
that  have  done  good  unto  the  resurrection  of  life,  and 
they  that  have  done  evil,  unto  the  resurrection  of  damna- 
tion".    ajn.V.  28-29. 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      391 

In  this  passage  that  distinction,  between  nature's  or- 
ganic operation  and  man's  personal  right  and  individual 
necessity  to  determine  his  own  destiny,  is  carefully  pre- 
served. It  says  indeed  nothing  of  those,  who  have  done 
neither  good  nor  evil.  Therefore  we  are  left  to  the 
analogies  of  love  and  truth,  as  to  the  hopes  we  may 
cherish  concerning  the  future  of  infants,  and  of  all  who 
may  have  done  evil  in  ignorance.  The  things  of  God 
are  hidden  with  God.  Only  such  facts  as  free  men  may 
understand,  and  such  as  their  personal  responsibility 
demands  knowledge  of,  are  revealed.  God  reserves  to 
Himself  the  secrets  of  the  great  universal  and  final  judg- 
ment. He  will  not  only  preserve,  but  perhaps  in  His 
own  time  manifest,  the  consistency  of  His  infinite  mercy 
with  His  infinite  truth. 

The  resurrection  from  the  dead,  of  all  mankind,  stands 
therefore  upon  surest  warrant.  It  must  be  sure,  because 
Jesus  is  true.  As  an  organic  operation,  reaching  aU  man- 
kind through  the  "  last  Adam  ",  it  agrees  with  aU  natural 
analogies;  but  it  no  more  forces  a  fixed  final  destiny 
upon  any  one,  than  the  spiritual  making  alive  of  all  men, 
through  Christ,  forces  every  one  to  use  that  gracious 
gift  well.  To  the  last  God  respects  human  dignity,  by 
leaving  man's  choice  free  to  take  finally  one  or  the  other 
course.  Having  chosen  God  as  his  Lord  or  refused  Him, 
when  his  mortal  probation  period  shall  have  passed,  every 
person  will  proceed,  through  a  wonderful  but  natural 
resurrection,  onward  to  the  endless  destiny  of  his  own 
selection.  All  experience  accords  with  a  periodicity  in 
probation.  Taken  in  time,  any  possibility  may  be  hope- 
fully sought.  Out  of  its  time,  the  least  thing  is  impossi- 
ble. The  Book  of  the  Word  of  God,  clearly  and  often, 
states  that  this  mortal  life  comprises  the  period  of  man's 
probation*     It  says  nothing  surely  of  any  probation  be- 


393      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

yond  the  grave.  It  is  clearly  revealed  that  the  doers  of 
good  shall  enjoy  "  the  resurrection  of  life  ".  Even  the 
most  compassionate  lover  of  man,  "the  Man  Christ 
Jesus  *',  Who  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost,  Whose  mission  of  Salvation  sprang  from  Gk)D's  love 
of  the  world,  cannot  destroy  the  divine  image  in  man,  by 
forcing  him  unwilling  into  the  pure  presence  of  God 
eternally.  "  He  that  hath  done  evil  unto  the  resurrec- 
tion of  damnation"!  "And  these  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment :  but  the  righteous  into  life  ever- 
lasting ".     S.  Matt.  XXEV.  46. 

The  whole  Creed  holds  together  consistently,  and  this 
article  upon  the  Eesurrection  supplements  that  upon  the 
Judgment.  While  agreeing  together,  however,  eveiy 
part  has  its  leading  and  special  significance.  In  the 
article  under  review,  the  Creed — being  both  a  formula 
of  faith  and  a  psean  unto  God — puts  words  of  hope  and 
everlasting  assurance  into  Christian  lips.  "I  look  for 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead  ".  The  multitudes  of  the 
living  soldiers  of  the  cross,  with  those  who  wait  on  earth 
patiently,  together  with  the  spirits  departed — whose  cry 
rises  out  from  under  that  altar  on  high,  whence  all 
prayers  ascend  mingled  with  angelic  incense,  before  Him, 
Who  sitteth  on  the  Throne — all  join  in  these  hopeful 
words,  with  longing  expectation.  Death  has  divested 
the  departed ;  so  that  one,  of  the  three  parts  of  their 
personal  identity,  sleeps.  They  are  not  yet  perfect. 
Death  lies  also  before  us  who  are  living.  Yet,  knowing 
in  Whom  we  have  believed,  and  being  persuaded  that 
He  is  able  to  keep  that  committed  to  Him  against  that 
day,  we  follow  along,  up  the  ages,  with  the  one  faith  and 
one  hope.  As  individual  persons  joined  to  God  in  Christ, 
and  as  members  of  the  One  Body — including  all  the  faith- 
ful, living,  to  live,  and  dead — our  song  is  triumphal  over 


THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      393 

the  grave,  and  even  over  the  happy  but  incomplete,  wait- 
ing life  in  Paradise.  The  great  Day  of  Resurrection 
gleams  before  us,  as  the  occasion  and  period  of  the  Con- 
summation ;  when,  restored  to  the  completeness  of  re- 
newed humanity,  we  shall  be  fitted  to  enter  into  full  com- 
munion with  Him,  after  Whose  likeness  we  "  are  and  were 
created." 

This  final  conquest  over  the  grave,  and  only  this,  opens 
and  presents  to  man  full  and  everlasting  satisfaction,  to 
all  and  to  every  part  of  his  identity.  The  soul  shall  not 
be  without  the  body,  nor  the  spirit  separate  from  either : 
but  all,  in  perfectly  restored  identity,  in  conscious  "  I ", 
shall  finally  enter  forever  upon  the  scenes  of  whatever 
destiny  shall  have  been — every  one  for  himself — elected 
in  time's  probation  season. 
17* 


394      THE  CEEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 


"  3lnir  i\)t  £ife  £t)£rlastlng 
2lnir%  ji:ifeof%  lUorlbto 


romc.'* 


As  a  song  of  thanksgiving  unto  God,  the  Creed  closes 
with  words  fitted  for  a  chorus.  All  the  Church,  on  Earth 
and  in  Hades,  shouts  in  unison  this  glorious  acclaim. 
The  Consummation  is  depicted.  The  shadows  of  sin  and 
retribution,  with  the  darkness  of  the  destiny  of  the  un- 
beheving,  are  thrown  into  the  background  ;  not  denied, 
but  only  not  mentioned  in  this  final  burst  of  joyful  assur- 
ance. Light,  beaming  from  '*  Jesus  ....  the  Light  of 
the  world",  S.  Jn.  YIII.  12,  reveals  its  own  source  for 
"  in  Him  was  life  ;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men  ". 
L  4.  Litensely  and  perfectly  human  is  the  "  life  ever- 
lasting of  the  world  to  come  ".  It  includes  the  full  efful- 
gence of  all  ideal  perfection,  in  beauty,  and  sweetness, 
and  power.  It  comprises  whatever  concrete  forms  of 
goodness  and  glory,  pure  imagination  can  picture  to 
hope  ;  supplementing  all  and  binding  them  together  in 
the  sure  promise  of  personal,  free  communion  with  Jesus  : 
"for  in  Him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily,  and  ye  are  complete  in  Him,  which  is  the  head  of 
all  principality  and  power  ".     Col.  H.  9,  10. 

Modem  Thought  is  familiar  with  two  distinct  ideas  of 
human  life.  One,  that  it  is  simply  "  force  "  or  "  perma- 
nent possibility  ",  vitalizing  the  universe,  calling  up  forms, 
either  as  individuals,  or  persons,  into  being  ;  and  then 
remorselessly  dropping  them  all,  slowly,  one  by  one,  be- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODEEN  THOUGHT.       305 

tween  the  upper  and  nether  millstones  of  natural  prog- 
ress, which  revolve,  grinding  and  grinding  up  forever. 
Personality,  in  this  view,  is  only  one  element  in  the  com- 
pound of  existence  :  if  it  be  an  atom,  it  may  come  up 
again,  perhaps ;  and,  if  it  be  a  composite  of  atoms,  it  may 
never  appear  again,  but  only  give  up  its  constituents,  to 
enter  into  new  combinations,  and  reappear  in  new  form, 
or  even  in  divided  parts  of  various,  ever  changing  forms. 
It  is  quite  possible  to  project  this  idea  into  the  future  ; 
and,  using  these  very  words  of  The  Creed,  to  mean  by 
them  nothing  else  than  a  horrible  round  of  never  ending 
evolution,  through  agonized  living,  unto  inevitable  de- 
struction. This  dreadful  notion,  about  the  mystery  of 
existence,  may  possibly  suit  beings,  out  of  whom  all  af- 
fection, sensibility,  and  sensation  have  been  ehminated. 
They,  who  have  attained  the  lofty  degradation  of  "pure 
mind",  may  possibly,  perhaps,  be  able  to  picture  ab- 
stract life,  and  feed  such  souls  as  they  may  have  upon 
that  idea :  but  if  such  persons  exist,  they  may  be  ice- 
bergs— clear  and  cold  and  sparkling — they  can  hardly 
have  the  ordinary  pulsations,  and  yearnings,  and  con- 
scious needs,  and  hopes,  of  men. 

The  other,  and  the  only  alternative,  idea  of  human  life 
is  the  one  clearly  set  forth  in  the  common  human  con- 
sciousness, taken  for  granted  in  Holy  Scripture,  and  de- 
clared in  the  first  word  of  The  Creed  ;  viz. :  that  of  per- 
sistent personal  identity.  This  includes  body,  soul  and 
spirit,  each  distinct  but  all  composing  a  unity  that,  how- 
ever disrupted  for  a  time,  remains  undestroyed  forever. 
It  is  the  I,  which  in  due  time  shall  be  readjusted  and 
revivified,  to  live  again  forever  amid  an  immortal  harvest 
ever  growing  from  mortal  seed-plantings.  Nor  is  this 
the  whole  of  the  Life  Everlasting  ;  because  it  is  not  its 


396      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

perfection.  It  is  part,  and  no  mean  part.  It  is  profit- 
able to  dwell  upon  that  great  working  of  God's  power, 
whereby  cause  and  effect  go  on  through  time  into  eter- 
nity, slowly  but  surely  rolling  out  the  warp  and  woof  of 
every  one's  existence,  in  accordance  with  his  own  capa- 
city, and  skill  and  labor.  Talents  and  opportunities  are 
given,  and  with  them  doubtless  men  detennine  and  con- 
struct their  everlasting  fortunes,  both  in  this  life  and  for 
the  life  to  come.  This  view  however  is  designed  for 
mortal  discipHne.  It  may  have  very  salutary  effects  in 
curbing  our  spirits,  enlarging  our  minds,  trying  our  faith, 
chastening  our  tempers,  and  purifying  hope  through  pa- 
tience. Every  truly  Avise  and  prudent  person  will  not 
fail  to  order  his  life,  in  view  of  the  sure  consequences  to 
his  immortality.  Still,  this  whole  conception  is  economic. 
It  views  rather  what  we  may  have,  than  what  we  may  be. 
The  riches,  and  power,  and  honors  of  heaven  are  indeed 
worthy  our  contemplation  ;  and  worth  striving  after,  by 
work  of  all  kinds,  through  the  various  paths  of  wisdom 
and  charity  :  but  there  is  a  loftier  conception  of  the 
Eternal  Kingdom,  than  that  presented  alone  by  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem  with  its  gates  of  pearl,  its  wall  of 
gems,  its  streets  of  gold,  and  "  the  tree  of  life  which  bare 
twelve  manner  of  fruits  and  yielded  her  fi-uit  every 
month".     Rev.  XXn.  2. 

The  *'life  everlasting  of  the  world  to  come"  brings 
those,  who  attain  unto  it,  face  to  face  with  God  The 
Father,  through  their  personal  union  and  communion 
with  the  Godman.  They  stand  in  His  presence.  Being 
the  greatest  of  His  creatures,  they  rank  not  only  higher 
than  all  others,  but  are  placed  next  Him,  "Of  Whom 
are  all  things  and  we  in  Him".  1  Cor.  VHI.  6.  "Be- 
hold what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed 
upon  us  that  we  should  be  called  the   sous  of  God: 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      397 

»  .  .  .  Beloved  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth 
not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be :  but  we  know  that  when 
He  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  Him ;  for  we  shall  see 
Him  as  He  is".     S.  Jn.  HL  1-2. 

Love  is  the  ever  revealed,  binding,  linlf  of  everlasting 
union,  through  Jesus,  between  God  and  the  human  im- 
mortal sons  of  God.  Love  is  only  conceivable  between 
persons.  Identity  is  of  the  essence  of  personaHty.  The 
very  same  persons,  that  were  the  sons  of  God  on  earth, 
shall,  after  patient  continuance  in  well  doing  unto  the 
end,  enter  into  communion  with  "His  Father  and  our 
Father  ",  through  membership  in  Christ,  the  Head  over 
all.  In  this  consists  the  central  fact,  the  vital  germ, 
normal  grace,  and  power  of  the  "life  everlasting."  It  is 
such  union  with  God,  as  is  possible  between  Creator 
and  creatures  made  in  the  image  of  the  Creator.  What 
this  union  is  to  God,  He  only  can  know.  What  it  is  to 
us,  we  are  capable  of  apprehending.  We  may  not  com- 
prehend it,  we  may  not  go  all  around  it,  and  behold  it  as 
God  beholds  it.  We  may  only  accept  it,  as  fact — existing, 
and  actual,  not  without  but  apart  from  our  own  previous 
will  and  cooperation — which,  when  recognized,  may  ba 
grasped  and  held  with  all  its  ideal  relations  and  practical 
consequences. 

Our  apprehension,  in  the  eternal  life,  will  look  out  on 
two  sides.  On  one  side  God  will  be  with  us.  AU  that 
is  in  us  of  capacity,  function  and  force,  all  understanding, 
reason  and  will,  all  emotion,  affection  and  pure  senti- 
ment, all  that  we  are,  or  possibly  may  be,  will  go  forth 
on  that  side  in  response  to  Divine  love,  and  receive  that 
love,  to  the  fulness  of  our  consciously  personal  satisfac- 
tion, forever  and  forever.  On  the  other  side  the  ever- 
lasting life  will  present,  to  our  apprehension,  aU  the  ob- 
jective works  of  God.     They  will  appear ;  not  like  a  mir- 


398      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

ror,  as  now  they  do  in  mortal  life,  reflecting  the  Creator 
and  requiring  great  skill  and  caution,  lest  we  read  the  re- 
flection erroneously  and  thus  form  mistaken  views  of  God, 
the  Truth ;  but  they  will  be  seen  in  the  line — reverently 
speaking — of  God's  own  vision.  Instead  of  being  primary 
facts,  whence  we  get  secondary  ideas  of  God,  they  will  be 
themselves  secondary  illustrations  and  exemplifications 
of  primary  knowledge  of  God.  Directly,  from  His  own 
unveiled  effulgence  of  wise,  potent  and  tender  love, 
wherein  centres  His  own  dear  and  glorious  self,  wiU 
pour,  into  and  through  us  and  out  over  the  everlasting 
world  to  come,  the  ever  active  Divine  Hfe  and  light. 
Thus  and  then,  though  prophecies  shall  have  failed,  and 
tongues  ceased,  and  knowledge  vanished  away,  the  tri- 
unit  of  man's  perfect  peace  will  remain.  Faith,  en- 
couraged by  celestial  sight,  will  only  the  more  confi- 
dently cling  to  the  exhaustless.  Infinite  One.  Hope, 
though  looking  back  over  incalculable  fruition  of  joy, 
and  beholding  the  fulness  of  present  satisfaction,  will 
repose  confidently  upon  the  ever  full  and  ever  flowing 
bounty  of  the  Omnipotent  One.  While  charity — supreme 
love  to  God  Who  is  love  and  boundless  love  to  all  His 
creatures — will  ever  fill  all  the  saved  in  soul,  spirit  and 
body.  Faith  and  hope  will  go  out,  forever,  towards 
God.  Charity  will  go  forth,  carrying  the  completeness 
and  distinctness  of  person,  as  a  willing  oflfering  to 
Him  Who  accepts  and  responds  to  the  offering  with  the 
impartation  of  Himself,  His  love.  "And  now  abideth 
faith,  hope,  and  charity,  these  three ;  but  the  greatest 
of  these  is  charity".     1  Cor.  XHI.  13. 

Eternal  life  is  eternal  love.  The  life  everlasting  of  the 
world  to  come,  as  the  Creed  presents  it  and  only  as  thus 
presented,  overtops  the  very  highest  destiny  that  man 
can  portray;  while  it  yet  only  fills  what,  in  his  deep 


THE  OKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      399 

consciousness,  he  knows  must  be  filled  in  order  to  the 
full  development  of  his  being.  Love,  free,  full  and 
boundless,  is  the  prerequisite  and  the  fulfilment  of  per- 
fect life.  Only  God  is  deepest,  largest,  ever  living,  love. 
Only  persons  can  love.  The  Life  of  the  World  to  Come 
is,  and  according  to  the  Creed  shaU  ever  continue,  an 
unHmited  personal  reunion  between  God  and  the  images 
of  God.  The  Creator,  having  made  free  creatures  and 
given  them  an  education  of  trial,  vrill  reward  the  faith- 
ful with  an  everlasting  hfe  of  loving  communion,  free 
allegiance,  and  glorious  exaltation  with  Himself;  next 
the  Father,  Whose  "Word"  He  is,  and  Whose  sons  by 
adoption  the  saved  become. 


400  THE    CJREED   AND   MODEKN   THOUGHT. 


The  -Beal  of  the  document !  The  witness  of  the  Cove- 
nant! The  reaffirmation  of  every  particular  fact  and 
doctrine !  The  reassertion  of  the  whole  I  The  one  all 
embracing  acceptance  of  The  Creed,  as  an  indivisible 
unity ! 

This  ;  but  vastly  more !      . 

Amen  is  the  Greek  for  "verily."  Our  Loed  Jesus  fre- 
quently used  this  word,  or  rather  its  colloquial  equivalent. 
As  He  spake  it,  as  it  is  translated  by  the  Evangelists,  as 
it  comes  to  us  in  English,  it  carries  a  significance,  deeper 
far  than  that  ordinarily  assigned  to  it.  Sometimes,  in 
opening  solemn  assertions  our  Lord  repeated  it.  Whether 
once  or  twice  said,  it  was  an  appeal  to  the  very  source  of 
truth.     It  was  of  the  nature  of  an  oath. 

K  we  call  to  mind  the  solemn  dignity  of  the  person 
and  office  of  the  Godman,  we  shall  be  impressed  by  the 
fact  of  His  making  oath.  He  could  not  have  done  it, 
without  the  deepest  consciousness  of  its  awful  sacred- 
ness.  Even  the  most  reverent  of  mere  mortals  can  hardly 
imagine  the  profound  awe,  and  love,  and  strong  assur- 
ance, with  which  the  Godman  would  make  His  appeal 
directly  to  the  God  of  Truth. 

It  is  impossible  to  translate,  with  due  reverence,  into 
the  vernacular  form  of  the  oath,  the  Amen  or  Verily,  in 
the  connections  in  which  Christ  used  the  word :  but  one 
perhaps  may,  without  irreverent  presumption,  for  the 
Bake  of  the  impressive  lesson  contained,  think  of  the 


THE   CREED    AND   MODERN   THOUGHT.  401 

weight  of  meaning  carried  by  the  oath-form  in  such  pas- 
sages e.g.  as  "Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  we  speak 
that  we  do  know,  and  we  testify  that  T^e  have  seen". 
S.  Jn.  HL  11.  "Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Till  heaven  and 
earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from 
the  law,  tiU  aU  be  fulfilled".  S.  Matt.  V.  18.  "Verily 
I  say  unto  you.  Whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  King- 
dom of  God  as  a  Httle  child,  he  shall  not  enter  therein  ". 
S.  Mar.  X.  15.  "Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  To-day  shalt 
thou  be  with  Me  in  Paradise".  S.  Lu.  XXIIL  43.  "VerHy, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  The 
Father  in  My  name.  He  will  give  it  you  ".    S.  Jn.  XVL  23. 

When  however  we  have  devoutly  imagined  the  serene 
and  holy  Godman,  making  these  solemn  appeals  to  God 
in  connection  T\4th  his  most  stupendous  personal  claims, 
and  setting  them  as  seals  to  promises  of  eternal  blessings 
to  mankind,  we  have  not  even  yet  reached  the  depth  of 
the  significance  of  the  word. 

Amen  !  Verily !  Truly !  As  God  is  true !  By  Him 
Who  is  the  Truth! 

Now  put  this  depth  of  solemn  significance  by  the  side 
of  that  most  stupendous  self-assertion  made  by  Jesus  in 
these  words,  "I  am"Vni.  58,  "I  am  .  .  the  truth". 
XIV.  6.  Not  *I  speak  always  the  truth,'  'I  do  always 
the  right'  but  first  *  "I  am  "  in  MyseK' ;  then  '  in  Myself 
"I  am  the  Truth"'. 

If  words  can  convey  the  meaning,  the  Jehovah  of  old 
is  here  declared  one  with  the  Chbist.  He  is  the  very 
truth  itself;  the  nucleus  of  Hght  and  source  of  power. 
Reahty  centres  in  Him.  He  is  the  ground  of  all  possi- 
bility, the  efficiency  of  all  action,  the  efficacy  of  all 
Divine  or  true  utterance. 

AVhat  is  the  outcome,  and  full  meaning  therefore  of 
Amen,  as  sanctioned  by  the  use  and  example  of  Jesus  ? 


402      THE  CKEED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

It  was  an  appeal  to  God,  an  oath  by  Him  Who  is  true, 
by  Him  Who  is  the  truth,  by  Himself.  "He  that 
swear eth  shall  swear  by  the  God  of  truth".  Is.  LXV.  16. 
"Because  He  could  swear  by  no  greater  He  sware  by 
Himself."     Heb.  VI.  13. 

The  use  of  Amen,  in  the  Old  Testament  as  an  appeal  to 
God,  for  an  oath-test  of  veracity,  an  end  of  controversy 
or  seal  of  devotion,  may  be  found  in  the  books  of  Moses, 
in  Kings  and  Chronicles,  in  the  Psalms,  and  in  Jeremiah. 
The  most  remarkable  use  of  it  however,  appears  in  the 
passage  just  quoted  from  Isaiah.  There  the  "  God  of 
truth  "  of  our  EngHsh  translation  which  follows  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  "  is  in  the  Hebrew — '  the  God  Amen '  ".  [Cru- 
den.] 

This  very  name  is  assumed  to  Himself  by  Jesus,  as  re- 
corded in  the  Apocalypse.  "These  things  saith  the 
Amen,  the  faithful  and  true  witness,  the  beginning  of 
the  creation  of  God  ".     Rev.  HE.  14. 

Thus  Amen  becomes  one  of  the  links,  uniting  the 
Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament  with  the  Christ  of  the 
New  ;  and  carries,  on  its  front,  the  idea  of  the  presence, 
and  power,  and  consistency  of  God  ;  "  not  a  god  that 
hath  pleasure  in  wickedness  ",  Ps.  V.  4  ;  but  the  One  to 
Whom  "  lying  lips  are  abomination  ",  Prov.  XH.  22  ;  and 
yet,  "The  High  and  Lofty  One ",  Who  dwelleth  "in  the 
high  and  holy,  with  him  also  of  a  contrite  and  humble 
spirit  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  humble,  and  to  revive 
the  heart  of  the  contrite  ones  ".     Is.  LVH.  15. 

Thus  viewed,  this  word,  so  commonly  used  and  often 
lightly  defined,  is  found  overflowing  with  significance  and 
solemnity.  It  is  always  an  appeal ;  and  that,  not  to  an  ideal 
of  abstract  truth,  but  to  CnRisT^the  concrete  person  of 
Truth — "  for  in  Him  dweUeth  all  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head bodily  ".    Col.  H.  9.     At  the  end,  as  in  the  begin- 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      403 

ning,  therefore,  The  Creed  is  intensely  personal.  It  brings 
man  face  to  face  with  the  Godman.  It  puts  into  man's 
mouth  the  Godman's  own  chosen  affirmation.  It  joins 
man  with  the  Godman  in  the  solemn  oath.  Man  sets 
this  seal  to  the  formula  of  his  faith,  and  rests  upon  Jesus. 
The  One,  Who  binds  the  Divine  and  human  natures  to- 
gether in  one  person,  is  appealed  to  for  the  verity  of  the 
form  ;  and  relied  upon  for  the  efficacy  of  its  facts.  The 
"  Days-man  " — not  merely  holding  God  by  one  hand  and 
man  by  the  other,  but  sharing  both  natures — takes  us 
into  organic  union  with  Himself,  and  lifts  our  indestruc- 
tible persons  up,  so  that  with  Him  and  in  Him  we  may 
hold  the  truth  in  love,  may  accept  the  Creed — the  cen- 
tral formula  of  truth — not  through  the  intellect  alone, 
but  throughout  understanding,  will,  and  affection  ;  even 
in  the  unit  of  person,  taught  to  know  God,  in,  by  and 
through  love. 

No  one  knows  better,  than  mindful  and  heartful  be- 
lievers, that  the  grandest  truth  has  a  sheer  edge  beyond 
which  fall  precipitately  the  dark  chffs  of  error.  The 
highest  adoration,  overpast,  becomes  blasphemy.  Exal- 
tation of  humanity,  beyond  its  divinely  imaged  creature- 
hood,  incurs  the  sin  of  proud  presumption  vsdth  the  con- 
sequence— needful  though  fearful — of  banishment  from 
His  presence,  "  Who  will  not  give  His  glory  to  another." 
Is.  XUI.  8.  Yet  whoever  starts  back  from  any  lofty 
height,  revealed  and  opened  to  human  view,  because 
just  beyond  it  danger  lurks,  must  be  content,  all  his 
mortal  life  at  least,  to  know  not  that  sweetness  and 
brightness  of  truth  which  pervades  the  soul  of  him  who 
knoweth  the  love  of  God,  for  "  he  that  dwelleth  in  love, 
dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him",  1  S.  Jn.  IV.  16  ; 
nor  may  such  falsely  humble  or  timid  soul  apprehend 
that  nearness  of  the  final  future   divine   communion, 


404      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

which  Jesus  foretells  :  "At  that  day  ye  shall  ask  in  My 
name  ;  and  I  say  not  unto  you  that  I  will  pray  the 
Father  for  you ;  for  the  Father  Himself  loveth  you,  be- 
cause ye  have  loved  Me,  and  have  believed  that  I  came 
out  from  God  ".    S.  Jn.  XVL  26. 


Now,  finally,  looking  back  upon  the  whole  Creed,  and 
viewing  it  as  a  unity  ;  some  considerations,  that  came  up 
specifically  with  its  several  articles,  take  form  and  force 
in  respect  to  the  whole.  Christianity  cannot  afford  to 
stand  on  the  defensive.  It  is  the  very  power  of  God, 
organized,  endued  with  authority,  entrusted  with  disci- 
pline, given  a  code,  commissioned  to  honor  the  Most 
Holy  Name,  and  through  all  successive  generations  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  and  dispense  the  sacraments  of  grace. 
The  Creed  is  the  formulated  essence  of  Christianity.  It 
is  not  an  invention  of  men.  History  cannot  reveal  its 
origin.  It  was  found,  none  can  tell  how  early  in  com- 
mon Christian  use.  Even  the  full  form — now  known  as 
the  Constantinopolitan  and  commonly  called  the  Nicean 
Creed — was  not  set  forth  as  the  common  theology  of  its 
framers,  but  as  the  very  truth  or  fact  of  the  Gospel  as  it 
had  been  held  from  the  beginning  in  the  various  parts  of 
the  Church  Universal  from  which  the  councillors  came. 
They  did  not  create  it ;  they  merely  bore  witness  to  its 
accordance  with  "  The  Faith  ". 

Nor  was  this  its  final  historic  rest.  It  went  forth, 
among  the  whole  body  of  the  disciples  of  Christ  ;  and, 
after  much  discussion  and  conflict,  became  acknowledged 
as  THE  CREED.  It  has  of  course  been  fought  against, 
almost  from  the  beginning.  In  this  respect,  it  has  fared 
as  He  fared,  on  Whom  it  rests.  Its  opponents  however 
have  never  set  up  a  rival  against  it.     Whatever  ci'eed- 


THE  CREED   AND   MODERN  THOUGHT.  405 

forms  have  attempted  to  stand  against  it,  have  fallen  as 
upon  "  This  Stone  ".  S.  Matt.  XXI.  44.  They  have  in 
no  instance  been  preserved  from  being  broken.  Their 
fragments  can  be  found,  scattered  along  the  historic  roada 
and  by-ways  of  men's  opinions.  Modem  Thought  is 
familiar  with  their  powdeiy  remains;  for  they  blow 
about,  on  the  numberless  gusts  of  modern  opinions,  now 
like  motes  and  now  like  missiles,  having  one  common 
likeness  in  this  age  and  all  the  past :  they  are  obviously 
merely  human  in  origin,  evanescent,  and  though  reap- 
peai-ing,  never  in  detail  exactly  as  before,  nor  ever  resting 
in  any  compact  unity  of  form.  On  the  other  hand,  The 
Creed  of  to-day  is,  with  few  unimportant  particulars,  the 
same  as  that  of  the  early  ages  ;  for  which  was  claimed, 
not  that  it  was  true  according  to  the  opinions  of  those 
then  learned  and  having  authority,  but  that  it  was  the 
fact  of  the  name  of  God,  as  revealed,  and  given  to  the 
world,  viz.  :  The  Word  with  power  ! 

That  the  Creed  stands  forth,  unrivalled  in  history  for 
unity  and  perpetuity,  is  notorious.  The  point  would  have 
many  attractions,  were  history  at  present  in  view.  It  is 
however  only  touched  on  now,  and  set  forth  without 
argumentative  proof  or  defence.  Though  true,  it  is  but 
the  foil  to  the  more  brilliant  and  intrinsic  fact,  that  the 
Creed,  as  the  concentric  reahty  of  the  Gospel  of  Truth, 
is  to-day  a  living  power,  standing  before  men  and  claim- 
ing their  adherence,  upon  its  own  verity,  fitness  towards 
both  God  and  man,  and  accordance  with  all  knowledge. 
On  this  ground  it  has  been  discussed  in  detail.  As  in 
detail,  so  in  unity  and  wholeness,  it  stands  out  before 
Modem  Thought.  It  is  the  only  fonnula  wherein  God 
is  duly  honored  and  man  fully  respected.  Its  corner 
stone,  and  pervading  cement  of  unity,  is  The  Name  of 
God.    The  full  revelation,  it  contains  of  that  Name,  in- 


406      THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT. 

volves  and  accompanies  the  noblest  possible  estimate  of 
man's  dignity ;  accords  with  every  truly  deep  fact  of 
human  consciousness ;  fulfils  all  the  common  human 
aspirations,  how  loftily  soever  they  soar  ;  agrees  with  all 
established  science,  and  authentic  history ;  and,  at  the 
last,  presents  the  most  completely  harmonious,  as  well 
as  exalted,  picture  of  a  "final  consummation."  Therein 
God  and  godhke  man  stand  together,  as  Father  and 
children  ;  as  Lord  and  loyalist ;  as  Benefactor  and  friends ; 
as  The  Word  indwelling  responsive  persons,  who  accept 
in  love,  being  themselves  accepted  in  The  Beloved. 
Around  this  everlasting  union  stretches,  on  every  hand, 
the  Celestial  with  the  indestructibly  material  universe. 
One  shadow  only  lies  in  it.  The  mystery  of  iniquity, 
with  the  mystery  of  retribution  !  Human  powers  cannot 
dispel  the  shade  ;  but  the  Creed  is  the  formulated  "  tes- 
timony of  Jesus  ",  Kev.  XIX.  10,  and  "  he  that  hath  re- 
ceived His  testimony  hath  set  to  his  seal  that  God  is 
true."  S.  Jn.  HI.  33.  "Men  of  good  wiU  "  see,  in  the 
Creed,  aU  conceivable  perfectness  and  glory  in  God; 
while  humanity's  exaltation  is  shown  joined  to  "Jesus, 
standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God".  Acts  YH.  55. 
The  shadow  as  well  as  the  brightness  of  "  The  Truth  ", 
"as  the  truth  is  in  Jesus",  Eph.  IV.  21,  draw  us  person- 
ally to  God.  We  trust  Him.  His  love  is  the  assurance 
of  all  good  to  us.  We  confide  in  Him,  the  All  Merciful, 
the  Just,  knowing  that  He  is  true,  and  that  He  will,  in 
His  own  good  time,  open  to  us  whatever  mystery  we 
ought,  and  may  in  loving  reverence  desire,  to  know. 

Nor  is  the  Creed  merely  a  code  to  die  by.  Though 
leading  up  to  the  Consummation,  it  sheds  glorious  light 
over  all  the  "pathway  of  life."  Men  can  Hve  on  earth 
more  nobly,  and  more  worthily  of  themselves,  when  they 
know  their  own  natural  godhkeness,  and  appreciate  their 


THE  CREED  AND  MODERN  THOUGHT.      407 

mission  to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  their  Saviour,  by 
daily  following  Christ.  Striving  to  grow  up  after  the 
pattern  of  His  perfect  manliness,  they  may  occupy  what- 
ever station  they  win  or  fall  into,  as  the  fiiends  and 
children  of  God  ;  doing,  with  theu'  might,  whatever  their 
hands  find  to  do,  in  loving  service  to  Him,  Who  careth 
for  us. 

Thus  in  every  way,  for  time  and  for  eternity,  the  Creed 
is  ever  the  chart  of  direction  and  the  Charter  of  Liberty. 
Man,  as  man,  cannot  afford  to  do  without  it.  In  detail, 
and  in  completeness,  it  embodies  the  central  truth  of 
God  and  man.  In  it,  and  according  to  it  only,  man  and 
God  come  together  in  living  harmony  and  full  commu- 
nion forever. 


END. 


/  ' 


^i2«<'"HI»  BOOK  18  PTT-r*,  - 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


■REcrr—zr 


OCT  1 7  1961 


MAR14  196S      6 


REC'D  l.D 


mR-3'66-g^PM 

APR  1-196635 
i  "^^'O  CO 


is 


-^2 


^* 


b</6^/i® 


mXy/is^i^i^m^ 


